Dutiful daughter,
Oh how you smile
Teeth bleached white
With expectations that rise and rise and rise
Precocious, and beautiful
Understanding and kind
There’s no space to be human
There’s no space to be thine
Just running on fumes
Trying to fulfil the roles you were born into
Dutiful daughter
Oh what a beauty
Dutiful daughter
The family honour relies on thee
Thine beauty, thine brain, thine ability
To toe the line
Between acceptable intelligence
And quiet servitude
For you’re a
Dutiful daughter-
Oh lord! Of lord! Of lord!
Praise be!
(What once was a compliment now seems like shackles
Closing in with the roles entrenched in the beat of the payals she loves
But how can she anymore
When they’re ripped from her feet
And replaced with the burden of approval
In a society designed to hate her for simply being)
Yes! There’s no escape!
None at all!
But why would a dutiful daughter want one?
But they love her!
True-
Except…
Their love can’t see beyond social rules-
Rules that once served, rules are provide stability and govern
Yet, rules that are also were bent backwards to hurt her-
Is it even right to call their love a misery?
(When did it turn from dutiful daughter
To a specter of the woman who could be
Caught in the roles she was born into
Never able to be simply a human being.)
Tyag, gun, sankari-
(Her qualities or her eulogy)
When summed up in two words
Dutiful daughter
Where did herlsef exist?
Author’s Note: While this isn’t the case for all daughters, some children regardless of gender are caught in roles that their family pushes on them. While social rules and upholding family values have their positives, and communities are extremely important- sometimes the wrong family and community can get in the way of authenticity. Hope this helped you voice your pain if you feel the same and remember, it can get better. To read more of my work, head over to Muses_Saga.
