CRIMSON BLEEDS THROUGH THE GOWNS
Her mom had told her
About what happened to her years ago
And to her mother
And her mother
Years of lineage
Marked by horrid pain
‘Had only those scars
Been on my face’
Her mother would say
Only had they been
Scarred red on their faces instead
Maybe then
The world would’ve stopped to look
But hidden by their gowns
And cloaked by patriarchy
Women could only whisper
‘the day after
I’d look at the others
All of their gowns
Muffling their cries
I could only look
Look at their faces
Some of them veiled
Some of them not
But pain blinded our sights’
But the veil has been lifted
Those gowns can hide the scars
But nothing can chide our voices
Education and freedom
Go study my girl child
It’s about the books
And not about the blades
We bleed now
As nature depicts
And no longer as man or society does.
We bleed now
Every month
Remembering the children I can bear
Or the children I might not
Remembering
That it is my choice.
Nandhitha Babuji is a 18-year-old aspiring poet from Tamil Nadu, passionate about using her words to show solidarity against children’s issues.
