Bound a Lifetime
Morris Plains, NJ
2021, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
1. the memory-stained dreams:
She remembers the first time.
When precious water,
carefully balanced atop her head,
threatened collapse.
When she dragged across that never-ending path
under the chains of survival.
When exhaustion pierced bones that day
and never truly left.
When hope began to fracture
at the very eternity of her burden.
2. of emptiness residing time:
Now it comes almost mockingly easy.
Now she does not care
for the fatigue carried in her body:
it is ignored after decades.
Now she only resents the time stolen,
this cage that traps her
bound to an unyielding fate
she cannot escape.
3. a double-edged sword:
Though each step
has a thousands times value
it is not so simple while disease festers in
the very water that spills down her throat.
How sickeningly ironic,
the essential of life, treasured above all,
brings endless illness and death.
But what choice is there to be had?
To die without the water, to die from the water—
no, there is no choice,
at least not in this life.
4. When injustice claws at frustration:
Some days she wants to scream at the world
for its punishment without fault.
Yet, she vows to never need a savior,
refuses to fall dependent upon rescue.
Instead, she yearns for opportunity.
Her limitless potential awaits release—
if only she were unbound.
Reflection
Throughout the writing of this piece, I attempted to put myself in the shoes of the many people in our world who are disproportionately affected by the water crisis. In doing so, I found myself drowning in frustration, injustice, and the overwhelming feeling of being trapped. Without easy access to clean water, the climb out of poverty seems impossible, especially for women, who traditionally carry the burden of fetching water. This task takes 2-3 trips per day to a water source that is about 2 miles away, with the water that they have to carry weighing around 50 pounds. All of these factors contribute to the 5-6 hours spent every single day by these women, including young girls who start as young as 8 years old. This leaves no time to dedicate to finding a way out through education or other means. And what’s more, that water is usually a threat to their lives, as it is more often than not unclean. With all of these facts, the despair of these women's situation begins to sink in. But at the same time, I did not want to enforce the belief that they need rescuing of any kind, for these women are capable of just as much as any other. What they need is the same amount of opportunity that I was given from birth. And the inaccessibility to water is more than the trek to fetch it. It means a cycle of poverty, because water is the very first building block, and its absence is more than damaging. It means that these women don’t get to feel clean or beautiful as easily as those who have running water instantaneously. In this way, I found that mental strength seems to be tested almost even more than physical strength, especially as time passes, which is why I mainly focused on the emotional turmoil in my poem. And overall, I wrote this poem as I believe that bringing attention to this reality is essential in causing a movement towards improvement. Because every world-changing action comes first from awareness.