I am the cook, housekeeper and mother of the nations.
Who am I?
I am Eve, a formation of God’s last creation, wife to Adam and best known
for eating from the Tree of Knowledge.
But still I am more.
I am Ruth, great grandmother to King David.
I sometimes go by the name of Queen Esther, wife to King Ahasurus who
hung Haman.
Do you know who and what I am?
I am Bathsheba and Delilah - need I say more?
Yes, well maybe I should, because I am so much more.

I am the one who cooks breakfast lunch and diner before, during and after
the freedom marches.
I am the designated protest sign painter, wife, mother, and mourner.
I am the lover you lay with and the mistress upon whom you call to meet your
manly needs.
But again I am more. I am the back upon which you lean when everything
else has seemed to fail and you’re told that the sky is the limit.
I am sister and aunt and grandmother, niece, daughter, and still so much
more.
I AM WOMAN!

I am woman without a roar, silent, but not oppressed.
I am angry, happy, misunderstood, and loved.
I come in small, petite and in plus sizes.
I am coffee table, pecan, and oak tree brown.
I am midnight, yellow, white, and sometimes I am even colorless, but still I
am woman.
When eagles forget how to fly and French is no longer a language and
Americans no longer possess the freedom to speak, and pray independently -
I will still be woman.
And when Jesus returns for his chosen people - the faithful few - I will again
be woman.

I am the woman who bore man’s children, suffered the wrath of his hand
after working long hours at a meaningless job.
I am the woman with the foul mouth and the explicit language.
I am the woman raped and scorned.
I am the woman who is quiet and shy and tired of being tossed around.
I am burdensome and burdenfree.
I am a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Catholic, and no matter what-else I am,
religion, creed, race, characteristic or subtitle you place upon me, in the end I
am WOMAN.

I am Janette, Marjorie, Kishanda, Mary, Joyce, Latoya and even nameless.
I am rich, poor and just gettin’ by.
I am homeless and thanking God everyday that I have a place to call home.
I have five kids, three boys and two girls and it seems everyday they get on my last nerves.
I am the woman who can not bear children - saddened, but not incomplete.
I am the woman who aborted her child - saddened, but made whole again.
I am educated, illiterate, underpaid, harassed, and called everything but a
child of God.
But I am a child of God; I am a formation molded out of his last creation -
MAN.
I am tongue talking, sanctified; holyghost filled, and fire baptized.
I am blessed just to be alive - I AM WOMAN