Meera enjoyed the smell of a new book,
The scent of wisdom enchanting her mind's corner and nook.
But little did she know that Bible of knowledge,
Was bloodied with the stains of suffrage.
Rosalind Franklin, young and wise,
Turned the world around, in biological science.
But her untimely death met with the demise,
So Watson and Crick became the pioneer of Double Helix DNA, divine.
Cleopatra, whose beauty couldn't be contained,
Ruled the land of corrupt, where the system couldn't be sustained.
Her blinding halo, traitors had torn,
Shakespeare made her the queen of Beauty, not of Rome.
Witches and Warlocks, closeted in the folklore,
The children sleep sound to the stories.
But epilepsy made the women dance to the gory,
And the Salem Witch Trials sang a silent song of misery.
Hollywood is its glamourous highlands,
Stuffing dolls with makeup and subpar paychecks,
The restaurants had a different menu, without the price listed, for the women,
In the '80s, disco was booming and so were practices inhuman.
Meera closed her book, she went to the kitchen,
Watching her dad in the living room and mom lighting flame in a virtual prison.
The work they did in the office was the same,
But Meera asked, "Why are you paid less and still work at home to tame?"
Mum wiped her brow,
Looking at her daughter, her shining crown,
"The more you fear, the deeper it pulls
We need to heal the older wounds.
"Kalpana Chawla couldn't enter the temple with her blood-stained thighs,
So she touched the moon, so high.
"Kiran Bedi entered the no man's land
Law and justice were now in women's hand.
"Innumerable stars, uncountable examples, do you know what's common in them?"
"Yes, Maa," Meera smiled,
"All of them dared to shine."