A Woman's Strength
J. D. McKannan

A woman’s strength
is what man would call his weakness.
Her power to live in conflicting emotion
without denying any the right to be.
Her vulnerability is a secret armament
from which she draws upon reinforcements.

She walks into battle with her eyes open
without a shield and knows she will still live.

She does not pretend that she can resist the tides,
fight off the winds,
control what is free.

Instead she bends to them,
learns their secrets,
and becomes like the resilient reed.

A woman is by far the most courageous soul on earth.
Though she fears much,
she resists nothing
and fills her storehouse with wisdom she has earned in humility.

And if a man should take a sickle to her
he may not have her roots.

Her memory runs as deep into the earth
as the tares in any field.

A woman once hewn down grows back more resistant
whether by scorn, or defiance
or by a love all her own.

The heart of a woman grows stronger
by all the means a man is made weaker.

She is the very soul of courage
in the partnership she makes with fear.

True courage is not evident by a lack of vulnerability
but in one’s endurance in the very heart of it.

Who else but Woman
Is strong enough
to carry the yolk of the world?

J. D. McKannan

Back to Elysium