Tsungirirai Demetria Kambayo ‘AKA’ ‘Tough Lady’

The pain is heavy

Hard to engage with the levy

It has been a chevy

To address it as a bevvy

Dragged to comply

Misery to absorb

Betrayed power to regret

Until when

Do we have to compromise?

It gets irritating

Dreams crave to be irrigated

Words alone have become irrelevant

Are we really irresponsible

Or the opportunities are irregular?

Women, women, women!

Shame, abomination is our identity

Abortion, our new culture

The action to bear children

Is where our attraction lies

Our future lies in their will

It hurts to be lonely

Will we ever be alone

To decide for ourselves?

Are we to compete

To make the world complete?

We just want to be unique

Contribute willingly to the table

Empower while we still have the power

As a mother, my daughter is to draw inspiration from me

How then can I accommodate affirmation

When beneath my potential

I am suppressed?

I want to be there for my son

Strengthen him through thick and thin

How then can I

If all my energy is to satisfy sexual desires?

My baby girl, you married off to a monster

School dropout, all efforts in vain

Unprotected sex, no say to stand for herself

Unplanned webs of infections

Unwanted pregnancy, the journey to child labour takes its roots beneath

All you do is celebrate the childbearing machine

You created her into

Can’t we work together towards one goal

To make our land a better home

To groom our girls into women of change

To perform at our best to create transformation

To deal away with oppression

And women’s rights suppression?

Is what we ask too much?

We cry for hope and freedom

Take a stand in amplifying the voices of women

In solidarity with Palestinian women

We are more

And we deserve more!