I stand with my mother and all other global sisters like us

I stand with her

That innocent 16 year old given off to marriage against her wish

I stand with her in retrospect as she fled to the sacred forest to hide

Oh how it rained so bad that night she tells

How scared she was but yet

Death she preferred to marriage against her wish

She had just finished secondary school

sent there against her father's wish

By a mother everyone back then called 'stubborn'

later nicknamed 'Andepe' for independent woman

wasn't common to have such fearless women back then

indeed it cost her her own marriage

after some good domestic abuse too

and now my mother was to be given away for family honour

she who was so intelligent and just wanted to go on to high school

Her stubborn mother stood up again

At least she wasn't in that man's house again

even though traditionally the girls were still his 

to do with as he pleased

such reckless customs and traditions

Treating us like mere chattel

And so Andepe said: sell her if you care, but if he doesn't send her to school

I will show up and cause havoc

I didn't know as a kid why grandma was often around

I now think it was to remind my dad

She is known to be stubborn, independent and even wild

That still didn't stop dad

I remember the abuse, the scars and the silence

Mother took it and bore it all

She studied so hard and got a scholarship

In his envy and furry, he did his worse

Burnt all her documents and even our birth certificates

Mother couldn't leave for Canada after all

I think her eyes ran out of tears

We all were so scared and gathered round our own mother hen

I remember thinking if I could ever marry

If men were like my dad

But ha that's kinda of what I got

Like he had been raised by my dad

Six years and I was out

not waiting for my own mum to come and stand with me

I was still young and strong and more stubborn

I preferred to stand with myself this time around

And stand with all the other women abused and battered

left tattered just because they are women

supposedly weaker sex - called to 'submit'

I get so worked up when I read the stories

And realize it wasn't just ours

The world over

This is the norm it seems

Women mean nothing more than 'whatever'

This is the narrative I stand with my sisters the world over to change

And one day, drop by drop, there will be a paradigm shift