Ohio
Take up the woman’s burden,
She, from whom I come,
Half fairy, half maiden
Beneath the eastern sun
Veiled with cloth of satin
And anklets to hail the charms
Of a warrior, a fighter
A genuine with opened arms
**********
Take up the woman’s burden
With whispers of despair
And hum in awkward silence
Thoughts you dare not to share
Pour in the sweat of seasons
On fields that grow them men,
Who hit the age of reason,
Throw their equals in a den
**********
Take up the woman’s burden,
From Algwira to Tangier*,
Her misfortune, her existence
Her getting by in fear.
Soaked in seas of prejudice
And looks of mere disdain
From a society of strangers
To her gift and her pain
**********
Take up the woman’s burden,
And feed her righteous needs
Of equity unbidden
And wisdom to be freed
For she has might within her
Willingness beyond compare
To bring about the difference
And clear out your despair
.. And that’s my generation’s burden
*Algwira & Tangier: two Moroccan cities, located each, respectively, at the southern and northern ends of Morocco.