Determined

14/11/2020 -  Poem a Day Compilation

Determination, energy, and courage appear spontaneously when we care deeply about something. We take risks that are unimaginable in any other context. – Margaret J. Wheatley



        I



I cannot imagine the determination

Of the women who have gone before me

Who fought for the rights I enjoy

When the odds were stacked against them.



Where would I be without those pioneers

Whose courage in the face of hardship

Granted me the voice I take for granted

Having never had to fight a day in my life?



The tenacity is must have taken

To stand up for equality

To demand what should be given

Without a second thought.



        II



To confront the injustices before us

We must draw on our determination

And use the privilege we have acquired

Until we are all on equal footing.



To protect those still fighting

For that which should be free

We must harness our determination

And be a force with which to be reckoned.



To not know if you would succeed

But giving it everything you have

In the hopes of creating a better world

For those who would come after.



        III



Do not think your freedoms

A burden which you must bear

For that is a grave disservice

To those who paved the road under foot.



Take their strength as your strength

And stand on the shoulders of giants

For they have given you your voice

To use now that they cannot.



Give you voice to your children

So they may continue to create

A future for all people

Not just a select few



        IV



Women suffered for your suffrage

So long denied to them

By those who claimed governance

Based on the genetics of their birth.



Yet, still, so many women

Throw their vote into the trash

For no better reason than

It’s all a bit too hard.



Hard is having no voice

And no recourse to change your fate

While men exercise their power

With no care or concern for you.



        V



Women marched for free movement

Beyond the supervision of the men

Who granted fathers, husbands, brothers

The power to keep you against your will.



If we abandon our will to others

We are little more than slaves

Seeking permission to exist

While those same men seem to thrive.



The success of men who hold women down

Is always predicated on the choices of women

To allow that type of behaviour

To remain unchecked and unpunished.



        VI



Women birthed reproductive reform

Giving us the sexual revolution

And the right to our own body

To do with as we please.



They continue to fight for consent

And to ensure women are believed,

To make the world a safe place for all

And that all women are seen as equal.



And now we must join with them

To be united in our heroism

That binds us together as women

And makes us stronger as people.



        VII



So hold on to your determination

Let it guide you through the night

As a shining light lit by women

Who burn brighter than the sun.



Drink in their determination

Let it overflow from your cup

And may it refresh you in your journey

To maintain the battlefront.



One day we will see the fruits

Of the labour of so many generations

And of so many women

So were fierce in their determination.