Inherited Shame
Written on 18th of June 2024.
Perhaps you know someone who has inherited a shame that was never theirs.
A shame that gets passed down from generation to generation.
Through old tales of warning signs where not to tread.
This shame begins when a girl is born.
“Look at her she’s so beautiful, delicate and pure.”
“But a liability and a risk if not married on time.”
I have often been told that when a girl gets married she becomes a woman.
And I have often asked “is she not a young woman before then?”
“No you don’t understand.”
“She only becomes a woman when she is married if you know what I mean.”
“Parents are relieved when a girl is married, because you know it’s a big masoliya lifted off them.”
So what happens then if this girl passes beyond this line?
Does it become a dirty laundry that she conceals within her chest?
Which if told would mean the love for her would change.
And that she too would become her family’s inherited shame.
Because love has always been taught to stay within these lines.
And shame is the burden that you become
if you dare to go past.