PROUD



I am the proud occupier of a female form.

Proud am I? 
Carrying as I have the scars,
the wounds of all women,
the wounds of all men,
as we've denigrated this magnificence,
ridiculed this glory,
shamed this power,
stripped her bare
and made her apologise 
for her very existence. 

Proud am I?
When I've felt shame that has choked me,
the shame of our mothers,
our sisters through the ages.

Proud am I?
When I saw fear in their eyes,
feared my own naked wildness,
kept myself safe and numb,
without life and love
animating this flesh.

Proud am I? 
Yes proud I am,
as I find the gift of strength to override 
all that has gone before,
to override this fear response,
stored in my DNA.

Proud I am
as I shake off the repression of these ages past,
reclaim my connection to everything, 
the holiness of my entirety,
and feel the rivers of liquid joy 
surge through my veins.

Yes proud and grateful I am,
that we have cried our tears
and in the end found not sadness
but an infinite well of light,
a light that the world is now ready
again to receive.

Ruth Harlow

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