I am a
small town girl,
literate enough
to read
the campaign unfurl
‘Save the girl child’

but
do they know,
since my childhood
I have been
tutored to follow,
to obey,
to conform;

since my adolescence
I have been
ogled at, touched,
elbowed
to be in a corner,
may be
inadvertently,

but my
heart has broken
repeatedly,
when on
growing up too
I realized,

old,
young
married unmarried,
were just
interested
in doing away
with my
one more peel,

they wanted
to possess
to enslave
me…the girl,
my body, mind and
my soul,

they did it
consciously
….deliberately
not giving a damn
to what
I shall feel.

Good
Save the girl child
not just her life,
but her smile
her self-esteem,
her beauty
her sensitivity,

this way elevate
the humanity,
make it
civil and civilized,
Yes,
Save the girl child!


****

Chhavi Anupam

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/save-the-girl-child/