Cersei
       

She walks for all of us. A lead-and-follow dance. Arrow
backed, and hell-fired. A drawn gun, a broken suffering
and a horned-spur.

She is an emblem of ache. A hanging fire, pale but
burning. Pale but smoking still. Pale and stuttering with
spark. Her walk is a public machine, a gear of submission,
of repulsion, and the subversion of seeing. She is a heroine
of hate. A thick-bloodied sinner. Warrior. Woman.

This is for all the women who love too much
shame
for all the women who love too little
shame
for all the women who have said, No
shame
for all the women who have given too much
shame
for all the women who have happily taken
shame
for all the women who know their worth
shame
for all the women who have reason
shame
for all the women who have given in
shame
for all the women who do not apologize
shame
for all the women who try
shame
for all the women who believe
shame
for all the women who despair
shame
for all the women who are not helpless
shame
for all the women who save themselves
shame
for all the women who know what they want
shame
for all the women who know their worth
shame
for all the women who will not compromise
shame
for all the women who say it isn't enough
shame

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Copyright © 2018 Leah Umansky All rights reserved
from The Barbarous Century
Eyewear Publishing
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission