World Women's Day

World Women's Day, What to say it about, How to celebrate it, International Women's Day, Thinking about women's rights Down the ages, The struggles and sufferings Or women, Sacrifices? But also hearing the notes of dissent, The voices of anger and bewilderment, Frustration and loss, How were they tortured, maligned, Subjected to inhuman exploitation? Women's movements and protests We have suppressed it for long. We have toned their voices, Throttled and stuffed, Their liberties we have curtailed it, We have censured it Their freedom of speech and expression And have treated them as slaves Down the ages As caged birds. Social conventions and traditions Bind them, let them not come out Of the courtyards, The patriarchal ghettos, Flesh trade, human trafficking, Domestic violence and bruise, Gender bias and financial scarcity Crush it cruelly Making it life so pathetic? A woman's silent weeping Who has tried to understand it The heart of a woman?