AN ODE TO WOMEN

I'm a child of a woman raised by women whose presence in my life taught me that being a woman is more than what she carry in her chest,
Being a woman is more than her presence in the kitchen,
Being a woman is not just being a doll in her lounge,
Being a woman is being bold and chaste, being a breathtaking meadow where yellow roses freely blooms, red roses sighs love and white roses brings peace to its fellow roses.
Being a woman is being a riddle, being a metaphoric creature whose history is a mystery, being a woman is being unsolved puzzle.
Today I want to describe the women our mothers are:
Our mothers are mountain that pretends they are not crumbling, made to learn the lessons first so their mistakes can be a guide for us and yet our biggest fear is becoming the women our mothers are, so we often run away from the women they are because somehow we envision to become our own visions, to become more of them and still we wander how we can become all that without them. So we run back to them because we yearn to be mothered.
Our mothers are force,made to block every aggressive blowing wind, made to set the right foundation, made to walk in what others burn in so that their children can find a cooler path and this, this is a price they have to pay, a sacrifice they have to make.
Sometimes i wonder how they do all that; being a father in absence of a father figure, protecting their daughters against wild world, guarding their sons to become men of their words not just play girls like cards is a tremendous courage they possess.
We sometimes shy away from telling our mother's stories, the stories of how some of them brave chaotic cultures that almost ended their lives like the demon called Female Genital Mutilation, forceful betrothing, child abuse, some dropping out of school due to unstable backgrounds and the only bright future their fathers saw in them was early marriage to old men.
Tell me, how can a fourteen years old girl become a submissive wife when she had not learned to become a responsible teen?
We shy away from telling our mother's stories, the stories of how some of them became mothers before becoming women, how some of them nursed unplanned pregnancies when they themselves were still children and perhaps you're that child.
Sometimes listening to these tales had me wish I was their to share their pains and perils, to cleanse their father's minds that his home is still her daughters home regardless of their ages, that  education is paramount to every child, that women's ideas too contributes, that a woman's strength too can hold a table and a woman's voice can also echo loud.
Sometimes I fear the sting of my mother's tounge, I often see her words as a rival but I began to understand her.
When she tells me," My daughter be careful around boys,"  she mean my daughter, it's my prayer you become a woman before becoming a mother.
When she tells me," My daughter bang your head against books, she mean my daughter, today's society awards polished women.
When she tells me, " My daughter live with people right, she mean my daughter, do good because you don't know what tomorrow holds.
Today allow me give my mother her flowers when she still got the sense of smell. Allow me  tell  her how she's my haven that i run to when everything that holds my peace is under attack.