She ran home crying in her blood stained dress
She feared she was dying
Her mother never told her about womanhood
From that day on
Her blood stained cloths hung from the laundry line
For the world to see:
The Curse of Eve
The night before her high school matriculation
She feared her mother was dying
Bleeding uncontrollably
Taken away to the hospital
Her mother never told her she was pregnant
Little Eve sat staring at the exam papers
She could not remember a thing
The miscarriage… a dead baby…
Was her mother alive?
The first in her family to write a high school exam
She failed
The wailing aunties at the hospital
Wouldn’t tell her a thing
A child dare not know
About the matters of womanhood
Was her mother alive?
Little Eve ran far far away
She stared at the waters floating under the bridge
The thought of her weightlessly floating and sinking
Felt like a welcome release
A few years down the line
A family friend drove her home
He stole her youth and dignity
A secret no one else would ever know
One dare not speak of injustice against women
One dare not speak of the Curse of Eve
A woman without a high school diploma
Married to a doctorate professor
When she told him she was pregnant
He yelled
While a lifetime brought many blessings
It could not rid the shame
Even in her old age she felt embarrassed
She was uneducated
She spent her life trying to make everything perfect
Because she knew she could never be
© 2023 Marieke de Koker
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