What the world may never know
Is how, with every armor shed
A piece of our skin goes
A piece of ourselves gone
Never to return.
With every struggle surmounted
We dig our graves a little deeper
Closer to our Maker
Farther from all pains
Whether friend or foe
Pieces of ourselves, we give
For that is the world’s design
Pieces off a woman
We stayed home
We starve
So we join the melee
We race against men.
We win. We lose.
Pieces off a woman.
Our bodies, tired
Our spirits, torn
Stand, we must
Pieces off a woman.
Seek quiet, you say?
Be peaceful.
A smile, we offer
Inside, we unravel.
By the world’s design
Everyday
We take pieces off
All women.
*Dress by Len Nepomuceno Mortel for project MMXXI Reconstructed Alchemy.
