End of a Patriarch

Posted on by Reena Saxena

regrets flow
mirror reflections
shed dark tears
silently
imperceptible, afraid
unconfessed sorrow

a tree falls
roots withdraw support
earthquakes want
victimspeak
perpetrators of pain go
unnoticed, unmourned

Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge

33 thoughts on “End of a Patriarch”

  2. If we go back far enough there are many societies where there were strong Matriarchs. Why did that change? We need to fell old systems that aren’t working.

    FYI my Hubby and I are at 45 years and counting. Though I do know many childless couples and single folks… some widowers and widows with and without children. Too many couples just give up instead of actually working as a team.

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    1. One of the Indian states has a matriarchal structure for inheritance. But crimes against women are increasing.

      My guess about patriarchy is that men wanted a woman to bear only their children and built structures to keep them homebound and subservient. They never saw a woman as an independent, thinking being.

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      1. I think there were several Native Peoples that have matriarchal structures. I remember reading about; “Boudica, also known as Boadicea, was a British Celtic warrior queen who led a major uprising against the Roman occupation of Britain in the 1st century CE. She was the queen of the Iceni tribe, and her revolt was sparked by Roman mistreatment of her family and tribe after the death of her husband, King Prasutagus.” And then there are the Amizonian Women… and what about the African tribe of Warrior Women that a moviw was made out of…

        History is usually written by ‘men’ – the men who won…

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    1. We have witnessed the falling of a 30-year old tree due to heavy rains, and it saddened onlookers to find the timber being chopped away with electrical saws.

      However, I used a tree as a symbol of patriarchy here to denote its deep rootedness in Indian society.

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