Every woman is a history book 

Detailing a lifetime of hardship 

Footnotes of little slights and dismissals

Whole chapters on attacks and pain 

Illustrations of wiping away tears 

Putting on a brave face 

And getting on with it 

Because there is no other choice

Sometimes their history is a shared one 

An oral history of similar acts 

Strategies to get through it all

To rise above and keep going

A tribe that looks to its borders 

With distrust and anger 

Knowing their own history 

And looking to change it