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Lullaby to a girl child

Don’t jump or run
What if you hurt yourself there?

Don’t bawl
Stifle the pain. Let the tears flow artistically down your cheeks.

Please
Don’t walk so tall and confident.

Look down
at the ground as you walk.

Don’t stare back
Instead lower your eyelids, shyly.

Pinch your cheek
Practice your blush for the compliments to come.

Giggle
Never laugh out loud.

Lower
Your voice. It should never be heard

Go deaf
Pretend you haven’t heard all that you do.

Hold your tongue
At any cost, never speak your mind.

Blank your mind
Don’t have any thoughts, opinions or ideas.

Bottle up
Your desires; you are his property and his slave.

Hide
your bosom, don’t jut it out, and don’t sway your hips

Close up
Sit demure. Don’t spread your legs.

Open up.
Be the vamp when he so desires.

Hide
Your intelligence and your rebellion and your revulsion.

Fake.
Your orgasm

Pray.
You get a baby boy the first time

Sacrifice.
Your very identity to a stereotype

Yes dear, you would be just fine,
you would be just fine,
Safe from these ugly beasts
born from our very wombs.

STOP
Singing this lullaby O mother,
No more of such lullabies for me.
Let yours be the last such lullaby
that any mother would sing to her little girl.

My power is mine to claim.
My name is mine to own.
My body is my very own.
And, I have a mind of my own.

Let’s rewrite the rules,
one by one.
One step at a time.
Walk with pride beside me,
As we, change the game.
And, when they ask you
How she dares to be so free,
Tell them, she dares,
because YOU changed the lullaby lines.

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[ Original Poem was written on 2/2/2009. It has been rewritten a few times, as lullabies should be] - SS

1 Comment Add a Comment?

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Logesh K

Posted on Oct. 11, 2020, 2:04 p.m.

Very great and inspiring lines

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