Be quiet. Don't speak. Don't think, he says.
Have you not learnt the way?
Do as you're told and behave,
that is what they say.
And be strong.
You will be rewarded in the end, they say.
How sorry I am that you feel this way.
Confined to these brick walls and to this day,
you're anguished soul aches.
Broken.
But you always wipe the silent tears away.
Hidden behind the painted smiles you wear for display.
Your tortured eyes reveal what you cannot say.
How sensible you must be, how tame.
Smothered by the ancient frames of your gilded cage.
And generations have passed the same.
Perhaps it's time to break the heavy chain
and crush every shackle they once made.
Time to use your voice as voiceless as it may.
And the strength once promised can finally be seen today.
A. B
YOU ARE READING
System of Patriarchy
PoetryA melancholic description of an imprisoned role many women are forced to lead because of a culture structured by male superiority.
