The Smile Behind the Pain
A poem
Sitting in front of the laptop,
While the river leaks underneath.
The beauty of being a woman,
Is reminded every month while we bleed.
The strength lies in hiding the pain,
And to top that, the sea of mood swings.
Women are masters at poker,
As a smile is pasted while cramps take over.
The pain is secondary,
As family comes first.
Mother’s give everything for their children,
Even if her body is low on haemoglobin.
Everyone must be fed,
And everything is magically taken care of.
Leaves are entitled to everyone,
But not for the monthly cycle as that would mean havoc.
A little bit of understanding goes a long way,
If only we could scream in a meeting and say,
‘I feel like screaming at you because you are speaking nonsense’.
But all we do is smile and say, ‘yes that makes complete sense’.
No, we aren’t weak,
We are biologically made this way.
We take pride in being a woman,
As we are gifted in unique ways.
We have an intuition so strong,
That we sense danger from miles away.
We find strength in vulnerability,
As it takes guts to cry and speak with honesty.
We care and love unconditionally,
And walk hand-in-hand when treated equally.
We respect other’s opinion,
And speak unabashedly when asked what’s our opinion.
We smile behind the pain,
And learn to control our emotions.
Because if we speak up,
We will get that look of being incompetent.
Nevertheless, we know that we are here to stay,
Even if we are leaking and our hormones are having their own say.
We rise every month and feel empowered being a woman,
As we are a combination of strength and possess emotional sense,
That has the power to heal and create empathy and peace.
