The Un-caged Virgin of Africa: Free Verses

 

Once upon a time in the exotic lands of Africa,

That gave birth to earliest human civilizations,

A land of resilience and vast traditions

A wonderland by nature, with beauty that resembled magic,

Full of charms and spells;

Lived a ‘Caged Virgin’, well-known for her beauty and boldness.

Slowly and gradually she became a symbol of resistance.

Loved and revered by those who believed in humanism;

She became the voice of African women.

Bringing forward the evil practices like female gentile mutilation;

Everyone listened to her carefully;

And hailed her for breaking the evil cage of dogma.

For best ideals she put her life in danger;

As she started calling her ‘infidel’;

Her own people wanted to kill her.

But the humanists came to rescue her,

They took her to lands where free speech was not a sin,

Where people where ready to listen to anything and everything;

Our beautiful and charming ‘Caged Virgin’ was now ‘un-caged’; and not the virgin anymore.

She got married in the lands where freedom of speech prevailed;

And begot children

But soon she realized the freedom; for which she put her life in danger;

Wasn’t good enough for her own children;

As the dogma of extremism was increasing in her new free lands;

And freedom of speech was threatened the most;

One fine day, while looking at her children’s confused faces;

She realized; ‘Dear God! What have I done? My children badly need a counter-story’;

No matter how stupid that story was!

To her it seemed a fair story;

Even if it claimed a ‘virgin’ give birth to god’s son;

Who was circumcised on the eighth day and named ‘Jesus’ by the angel in his mother’s womb.

With all its flaws; she accepted the story!

She thought it to be the only narrative to fight against the terrorists!

She publicly started defending the story with all its non-sense;

As one day while lying straight in her bed she felt a divine connection,

Telling her to believe in a supernatural being;

Whose only begotten son died for her sins on the cross!

She badly needed a counter-narrative.

But humanism that saved her;

Wasn’t good enough for her now!

So our fair and fortunate ‘un-caged virgin’ threw everything away, as she saw the savior hanging on the cross

It seemed the only way to save her children from terror.

Good Lady!

Here is a question for you:

‘What will you do if the same connection tells you even the extremist dogma is from the very same supernatural; whose presence you felt in the room?’

I felt sorry listening to your farewell to humanism!