Ode to Woman

Not here to focus on women's faults, but on women's rights
A duty, owed to you, in support of women's fights
Chained and shackled, kept like cattle: useful for the nights
Broken and battered; they didn't matter: your emotions or plights

As though you were children, as though you were slaves
We ordered and told...TOLD you to behave
"Don't speak 'xcept we tell you", "don't go 'less we say"
Our ego...perverted, our conscience ..depraved

Physical abuse approved by the law
A husband had power to beat or to flog
And power to rape, as if you were a whore
For being too tired after the day's job

The right to vote, fiercest and most crucial, of course
Protesting, campaigning, and some light use of force
The need was so pressing, you went to the source
You came out victorious, changed history's course

The trees to our sunshine, the rains to our earth
O the depth, width, height, and length of your worth
Though "ashes to ashes" and "dirt to dirt"
Still no one breathes this air without you giving birth