I am a shape-shifter,
abstruse, obscure
Shady, to some, for they do not understand me.
What is she? they wonder. What is her purpose?
To them, I am God’s trivial creation –
a mere tool to bring new life,
here only to ensure continuity.
Submissive to their kind, menial and docile,
I accept servitude,
For I have been taught to believe
That I owe my every breath to them, the men –
The self-proclaimed messiahs of the universe.
Oh, I must be respectful. I must behave.
I do not want to anger them,
for I know what they hide, I know what they are.
Behind the facetious facade of civilisation,
I see monsters – savage and bloodthirsty.
I do not wish to face their wrath,
they frighten me.
So I stay where I am;
suppressed, suffocated, slowly choking to death
never uttering a word.
After all, what am I, if not their own daughter?
Their sister.
Their wife.
Their own mother
After all,
I am only a woman.