DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT

This poem is wonderfully written by Palak Sharma of The Khaitan school. It is about women misbehave and how they are treated.

Look at me

don't look at me

when I was a little girl

I let myself dream

to be a one admired

viciously corrupted

my dreams

and dreams

do come true

whether it be through

those vagrant boys

who praise my legs

like a Michelangelo art

like they are devilishly

hungry for skin

and I am

their first meal of the day

or the critics of voluptuousness

the scourge classmates

offering endless

bitter honey words

on my waist size or

my 'conspicuous' curves

so yes I am no stranger

to admiration

but I am a total stranger

to admiration

so yes to the little girl in me

dreams do come true//

look at me

don't look at me

and since I can reconcile my memories

I've been told

your body is a temple

but what if

what if

some of the visitors

aren't religious?

how will

my temple

condone to atheists

who existence

serves only to corrupt

sanctity of my mind?

tell me

how should a temple

survive amidst

no followers?//

look at me

don't at me

I am no stranger

to gazes

penetrating my dignity

but as my body

is subjected to unauthorized critics

the judges of my scars

my head rings

with all those

fairy tale voices

lying sweetly that

all girls

are goddesses

and if that is true

i truly hope

science is truth

and religion is a lie

to save them

of this hypocrisy

all these honey lies

so that they too

don't hide

under loose jeans

long attire

to relieve themselves

of suffocating under

Minds who cannot

Come close to fathom

Anything underneath

Her skin or what she likes.

So don't you say that

We are goddesses

Do not sugarcoat

Miseries and cries

That silently

screams for help

Do not objectify.

So listen

And you shall here

The silence

Whispering

Girls are not goddesses

Just human

Treat them

like one. //

So look at me

Don't you look at me

And I hope

Among these gazes

One day

We'll unite. //