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A Prayer for My Daughter

MD. MEHEDI HASAN
(With due respect to W. B. Yeats)
DearShyamoli, Mere prayer won't do. Act.
Send our child
to a martial arts academy
along with that, send her to school, when she's five:
so that rickshaw pullers, hawkers, shopkeepers, teachers can't get away teasing or assaulting.and become the Queen.
You won every war, and conquered the throne!
Wake up, brave girl!
You're not Snow White, but you saved yourself from all the vicious beings.
You're not Sleeping Beauty, but you woke up every morning loving yourself.
You shared your happiness and made others love and smile too.
You aren't Rapunzel, but you have the shiniest hair in the world, and stars wrapped around you.
You aren't Cinderella, but you have your own glass shoes. And you made every Prince on that DJ night, desire a dance with you.
You aren't a Princess after all, and you didn't need a Prince.
You are but Her Majesty, looking for her King.
Tara Sattar is a poet and blogger based in Dhaka.
Teach her how to react and share it amongst the family.
Raise her strong-
in order that she can fight four-five hyenas on a running bus or when they will attempt to set her on fire
so that as a father
I don't have to endure dirty mockeries of the constables.
Once more the storm is howling, let's pray
for the safety of our daughter!
Md. Mehedi Hasan is a poet whose works have been published in The Daily Star, The Daily Observer, The Independent, The Wagon Magazine (Chennai, India), Arts & Letters- Dhaka Tribune.