Unchained

** This is the poem I wrote and read out during the 'One Billion Rising' in India where different civil society movements, causes, individuals came together to unite their strength to fight for justice for women

Unchained

The first bruise on my face

Covered the side of my mouth;

Till one day I had a black eye

That needed a veil.

The injuries spotted corners of my body

Till nothing I did could cover it anymore;

I stopped meeting people in the eye

It became my habit to hide.

8 years it took me to listen to my inner voice

And I chose justice that day;

But the judge I faced in the court

Asked me proof of my pain.

What proof does a woman keep who loves her man?

Does she take down dates?

Does she take pictures?

Why has she no witnesses?

Where are the hospital bills?

Had she been just busy, forgiving him?

I found no justice from law

There was no one in the court to console me;

I lay there shattered more by their disbelief

Than the open skin of my wounds.

That night I looked hard at my sleeping child

Thought deep what I wanted her to be;

And I chose justice that night

I let go, to close a chapter of our lives.

There were ups and downs

but We had dignity;

We were surrounded by unknown faces

But we found safety.

There was a time there was no money to pay for our bus fare

But we hung on for better times;

We ate simple food

But our soul was nurtured.

We lived in rented homes

But we knew we had each other;

We fell sick, we got broke

But we slept at peace every night.

Most of all, with every knock that life threw our way

We inched a little closer to each other

My daughter and I.

We walked out of this world of man-made laws

And built our lives ‘brick-by-brick’;

We lived among happy people

And finally found our sunshine.

It has been 9 years ever since, Seems like just yesterday;

But I have changed,

we have changed

No one can give us justice anymore

For we are not takers,

We have become the givers.

Our home is our temple

And the world our family;

We rise, we soar,

we celebrate our spirit that now lives in us

Unchained.

By Urmila Chanam

For One Billion Rising 2017

Bangalore 29 Jan 2017 Cubbon Park