Two Prison

Two Prison

Patriarchy taught the woman

obedience

and called it virtue.

It taught the man domination

and called it strength.

One was locked behind walls.

The other was locked behind a

throne.

Both were prisoners.

It shaped the woman

into wife, mother,

respectable silence,

gentle dependence

and called this her nature.

It shaped the man

into the need to rule,

to control,

to never appear soft

and called this his power.

But power that must constantly

be proven is also a cage.

Simply giving the woman

the same structures the man was

given does not free her.

It only changes the shape of

the prison.

True freedom

cannot be granted

by patriarchy,

feminism,

religion,

or the state.

Freedom is not a right

systems can bestow.

It is an inner state.

It begins when the woman

no longer needs obedience

to feel worthy,

and the man

no longer needs domination

to feel strong.

It begins when neither

is forced to perform

the role society has written.

Liberation is not the exchange

of one script for another.

It is the quiet refusal

to play any script at all.