Woman with the Yellow Mask

Inspired by seemingly submissive Asian women, especially my mother with all the patience in the world.

She wished though she has no wish
Woman with the yellow mask
The garter she wore 
For a man she adore 
She wished though she has no wish
Woman with the yellow mask
A name she was bestowed 
On the day she said I do 

“I do, all the laundry

For you and your children

I do, all the cleaning

For the house we call home 

I do, provide the filter 

For your alcohol odour

I do, embrace the bashing

Of your verbal assaults

I do, accept your temperaments

Of a ticking atomic bomb

I do, because 

Of the love I have for us

I do…”

Woman with the yellow mask
Ingested every temper bombing
Digested every burning scraping 
Invested every happy ending
For the centre of her life
Ones she jointly created 
One she blissfully wedded  
She wished though she has no wish
For the centre of her life
To perceive only the yellow mask but
Nothing beyond 
Where the darker shades of yellow hide
The woman with yellow mask
Hidden in the centre of her bosom 
Is the sunlight that never fail to 
Shine
Bright as the yellow mask
She wore with complete dignity 
She wore with complete surrender 
She wore with absolute triumph
For she wished

Though she has no wish.

Author's Note

There is something more to the line, "She wished though she has no wish". The first wish is for her family, there second non-wish is for herself. The selfless nature of women across borders is something as a daughter, I could not fathom. And it is a very delicate issue, as how can one loose the self, but find it in others, in a family?