Here is a poem by a great Iranian poet Ms. Partow Nooriala, she is also a tireless advocate of the womens' rights movements in Iran including the One Million Signatures Campaign.

 

Translation by: Zara Houshmand

Zara Houshmand©1997

The first part of this poem is from the eye of a patriarchal society towards women, and the second part is a woman’s voice, that denounces the repression of that society, for she knows her values and abilities. 
 

Bow your form

In sight of the earth.

Hide your face

From the light of the sun and the moon.

            For you are a woman.

Bury your body’s blossoming

In the pit of time.

Consign the renegade strands of your hair

To the ashes of the wood stove

And the fiery power of your hands

To scrubbing and sweeping the home

      For you are a woman.

Murder your words’ fervor

In the devastation of silence.

Feel shame for your desires

And grant your enchanted soul

To the patience of the wind

            For you are a woman.

In the muddy mirror of jealousy

Adorn yourself.

Dress up in the spoil of ignorance

            For you are a woman.

Deny yourself,

That your Lord

May ride in you at his pleasure

      For you are a woman.

*

I cry,

I cry.

In a land where ignorant kindness

Cuts deeper

Than the cruelty of knowledge

I weep for my birth

            As a woman.

I fight,

          I fight.

In a land where the zeal of manliness

Bellows in the field

Between home and grave

I fight along with my birth

            As a woman.

*

I keep my eyes wide open

So as not to sink

Under the weight of this dream

That others have dreamt for me,

And I rip apart this ghostly shirt

They have sown to cover

My naked thought

            For I am a woman.

I make love to the god of war

To bury the ancient sword of his anger.

I make war on the dark god

That the stars of my name may shine

            For I am a woman.

With love in one hand,

Labor in the other,

I fashion the world on the ground

Of my glorious brilliance,

And in a bed of clouds I plant

The scent of my smile,

That the sweet smelling rain

May bring to bud

All the ivy of the world

             For I am a woman.

My children I bring

To the feast of light,

My men

To the feast of awareness

            For I am a woman.

I am the earth’s steady chastity

The enduring glory of time

            For I am human. 

From “My Earth Altered”, the 3rd. collection

Of Partow’s poems

www.noorialapartow.blogfa.com