The Woman and the River | Teen Ink

The Woman and the River

December 6, 2017
By mksosa GOLD, South Plainfield, New Jersey
mksosa GOLD, South Plainfield, New Jersey
19 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;If you accept average now, you will end up creating an average life&quot;<br /> -Willard Schulte.


There is a woman
Her feet pounding against the soft, bountiful soil
The soil that will bring her father great wealth the next coming year.
There is a woman
Who is running away from home
Away from the love that warms her during the bitter winters
There is a woman
She has just reached the treeline of the forest she used to play in when she was a child.
She knows not how far or where it goes.
There is a woman
Whose tears are running down her face
They run  just as fast as her feet

All she has ever wanted was to be free
Like the hawk, who sails the winds of the sky
All she has ever wanted was to live unburdened from her duty to be a bride

There is a woman
She runs through the forest
Branches and thorns are tearing at her skin and skirts
She fights her way through, bearing this pain over the pain of subordination
The forced silence
The blind obedience
Chained soul

She comes to a river
She stops, panting, out of breath
Along the river bank, she feels the cool breeze hit her her salt stained cheeks
She falls to her knees beside the river
Watching the water splashing up against the shore, she realized it was never the same
Every time she closes her eyes, she opens them to a new river
She sees her reflection in these ever-changing waters
She finds her way back to her feet
She wipes away her tears

There is a woman
Who begins to run
But this time she is not lost
She is not alone

There is a woman
Who runs with a smile
Along the river bank for miles.


The author's comments:

This piece was inspired by the characteristics of Confucian ideals and Taoist writing. Confucianism stresses the importance of deferring to parents and those that hold higher power of you as a form of respect. Taoism stresses the importance of living as one with the Tao. The Tao is not a god nor should it be worshipped as one, it is simply a path that one should find their way to.


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