The Myth

The cause of death of the Somali sister is still under investigation.
While struggling with the reality of being a myth she died.
She died from lies her grandmother passed on to her mother,
who than passed it on to her,
About her role as a woman in society.
Be soft spoken.
Be meek and obedient.
Speak only when spoken to.
Never talk back to your husband.
Never raise your voice.
Place the needs of other before yourself.
She died from being silenced generation to generation,
While others screamed at her.
She died of asphyxiation,
From years of smoke inhalation, having spent her youth in the kitchen.
She almost died from complications
Of female body mutilation.
Yet when she survived,
She died from knees pressed too close together,
For respect was never part of the foreplay being forced on her.
She aged too fast,
From the stress of becoming his wife at fifteen,
Your mother at nineteen,
And the woman he set aside at thirty.
Only to restart the process again.
She bleed to death alone from cesareans to stillbirths,
In one room shacks in Mogadishu,
To elaborate hospital rooms in New York.
She almost died from starvation,
Having to wait for leftover food
While her husband and son's filled their bellies.
She died from manual labor,
Carrying six to ten children,
The heavy furniture and groceries
To the load of chauvinistic garbage her husband, uncles and son's spoke.
She died from everyone relying on her.
She was picked to death slowly from everyone taking, and never thinking to give.
The strong Somali woman never got a moment to her self.
Never thought to take one.
She died from the humiliation,
Caused by the lies and rumors you spread about her,
Before her father strangled her in her sleep.
Upon discovery of her body
Her face was frozen into a smile.
While you can still see
The glitter of where her tears have dried.
Even in death,
She maintains the myth of not allowing to show weakness.
The charade of being happy and smiling.
When she was sad and screaming.
The strong Somali woman is dead.
Did I fail her?
Did you?
Or was it a collaborate effort?



Copyright © 2009 by Hayat Magan. All Rights Reserved