Removing the Veil
In honor of Tahirih - 'The Pure One'
For centuries, ‘she’ lived in the shadows
behind veils, behind walls, behind men
who did not see or hear a woman unless
her voice was a soothing affirmation
of her lesser existence.
Made servile in her servitude
without voice and vote
in the society, she brought forth
from womb and heart.
Until a new era dawned
and a bold heroine heralded it,
In Persia, encircled by the
watchful wrath of mullahs
and the king of the Qajar Dynasty-
where it was a sin to look
at the shadow of a woman,
Tahirih arose- the first woman
to remove her veil
and announce to her executioners:
“You can kill me as soon as you like,
but you will never stop the emancipation of women.”
Her voice echoes in anthems:
I remove my veil,
cast away as a relic of the past
I stand chaste and pure
as I am- in the eyes of God
no cover over my head
makes me any purer.
I remove my veil to reveal
the glory of a new day
to show you the unseen possibilities-
to unleash the force of the waters
hidden in the reservoir of my heart.
I remove my veil
opening the way for women to
balance and heal the world
as they join forces to make half whole.
I remove my veil
my visage shorn of fear
no more covering and cowering
I show my capacities
and step forward into
the arena of life
widening the sphere
of love and knowledge
to change the destiny of humankind
I remove my veil and am equal in the sight of God and man.
By Lisa Perskie
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