Binded feet and bounded waist

Small feet and a small waist,

as delicate as a flower.

Binded feet and bounded waist,

women made beautiful...

vulnerable, like a blossom.

 

Like a blossom in spring,

they are quick to wilt, to be replaced.

Like a flower brought to a vase,

they can be replaced by new ones.

 

Unable to run, unable to jump,

they are unable to escape their fate.

Tied down and binded,

they are not even allowed expression

... of their thoughts and feelings.

 

In the East and West, only vulnerability

is beautiful. The loveliest and wealthiest

can afford these bondage. Why is it that

men love these seemingly delicate blossoms?

 

The women endured, and forced these rituals,

their pain and suffering, onto another generation.

One after another. For only through this pain,

can their daughters marry well. Only through

this suffering, can they fathom happiness...

 

Or at the very least, survival.

Men sought to stunt and control women,

make them vulnerable and weak, dependant

on them, the men.

 

But it is with these... binded feet

and bounded waists that they, women,

learnt strength, patience, and endurance.

Traits that they needed the most.