She Is: A Love Song to All Women

The world has tried (and failed) to put into words what a lovely woman looks like. Many narrow it down to skin tone, hair type, religion, location, or belief system. While some stated that a beautiful woman is the one with a fair complexion, others stated she should have long hair, possibly cascading down her shoulders. While some even go as far as to state that modesty means beauty, others believe that a bold woman is ‘hot.’ However, the most lovely thing about women isn’t what we wear or what we look like, but who we are.

When you check the crowded Nairobi streets or Sweden’s snowy edges, you will see women redefining power, elegance, and style in every language, every faith, and every beat. Take a trip from India’s villages to Brazil’s dance floors, and you will see us sparkle, draped in silk, bunched in denim, braided and crowned, barefoot on sand, attired in ambition, and laced with laughter.

With this era so quick to prescribe the definition of a beautiful woman, this poem reminds us that womanhood is too vast to be contained. Beauty is not on one continent, in one culture, or within one creed. It’s a rhythm, a flame, a spirit that flows differently through each woman and yet glows with the same unmistakable light.

Therefore, this is much about all women who’ve ever been told they’re too much or not enough. This is for the forgotten, the romanticised, and the ones who rise despite challenges. Let this be your mirror, your echo, your reminder that you are not only seen, you are beautiful.

This poem is for women everywhere, the quiet ones and the boisterous ones. The candle-lighting ones and the fire-lighting ones. The praying ones, playing ones, slaying ones, and staying-getting-up ones every day.

She Is

She is Ghana gold and Tokyo neon,
Mumbai spice and Rio sun.
Brooklyn beats and Cairo dawn,
A thousand stories in but one.

She is hijab and halo, locks and lace
A sari in the bazaar, heels in mid-air.
A voice in parliament, hands in dough,
A mama working night to dawn.

She's Sunday spirit and Friday fire,
She defies norms, she wears her name.
In Paris rain or Durban tempests,
She laughs through joy, she paces through hurt.

She's kohl-lined eyes and braided pride,
She's babies and books, truth and strings.
In Seoul cafés, Lagos gridlock —\
She dances through a million forms.

She chuckles in dialects divine
From Cape Town cliffs to Palestine.
No chart can hold her fire or circumscribe,
She is the world — with one name.

She Is Every Woman

Let’s talk about her — the Nairobi woman who spends her days in a tech startup and her nights writing poetry, the Afghan woman standing shoulder to shoulder with her daughter against terror, the Jamaican woman giving sunflowers and sons equal love, the French girl sketching dresses, the Chinese girl skateboarding, the Nigerian girl taking boardrooms by storm like a queen — because she is.

Picture the Nairobi teacher painting canvases of futures on chalkboard walls, the Kingston grandmother with secrets packed into every furrow, the activist in Tehran, the programmer in Bangalore, the Joburg fashionista reimagining convention in a feisty way, and the little girl in braids who sleeps in color and won’t shrink herself for anyone else’s convenience — because she is.

Beauty doesn’t reside in one zip code. Power doesn’t pray one prayer. Confidence doesn’t wear only one color. Whatever she’s doing to run a home or run for office, she’s doing it her way. She is showing up for whatever she’s doing, whether single, married, divorced, or just figuring it out.

And sprinkle, sprinkle. Every woman deserves a standing ovation, not just on Women’s Day. Not when she’s trending on Twitter. But every. Damn. Day.
She doesn’t need your permission to be strong. She doesn’t need your validation to be lovely.

Because she already is — exactly the way she is.

You know what’s insane? Every iteration is okay. Every iteration is lovely.

Because women are not a trend. We are timeless.

Let Her Shine. All of Her.

So here’s the deal:

The world is a little brighter because she’s here.

Whether she speaks Swahili, Spanish, Yoruba, Urdu, or nothing at all, her voice is heard. Her story matters. Her beauty is not up for debate.

So the next time someone tries to tell you what a woman should be, should dress, or should do…

Stare them right in the eye and say:
“She can be anything. And still be everything.”

Wherever she’s from. However, she gets there.
She is a woman.
She is whole.
She is wonderful.

Made in every corner of the earth and perfect in all of them.”

Send this to every woman you know. Feel free to leave your comment(s) in the comment section below. If you enjoy my blog, please share the joy with your loved ones using the share button. I am growing my blog and would love for you to be part of the journey. Thank you for visiting, and I hope you remember me in your thoughts!