Heroine by Tharidi Walimunige

Heroine

By Tharidi Walimunige | Graphics by Jessica Motet

I

thick thighs, map lines of withered bone-white scarring back meat, curling upwards in reverence of freckles and folds – sun dotting the i’s of cheeks – and crown: scalp of fire. broad to fit all that curiosity. muscle for a heart, her sturdy frame must have had so much love stored inside. father says safety is in the circle of his arms but Eep only lived, truly lived, apart from the dark, cloying cave stacked with the bricks of family limbs, no solar seams along the walls. salvation crested on magma wings and sooty cries of new dawn, no-turning-back dawn.

V

she felt her mother’s fingers weave through locks of light and thought it was a crown she made with those aged talons, singing her reign in the heart of the melodically maternal. but Rapunzel’s hair parted not for the lustrous frame of unconditional love. no, against those petal-kissed strands her mother had fashioned a collar, squeezing her mind in premature pruning. for what need was there for the daughter to know, if mother knew best?

II

sword-through-flesh scents of honour. sword-through-hair promises mercy. ruby gliding over lips, sealing them tight; warrior swallowed down. Mulan bisected herself – sleeve stained by the shackle of duty – to expose the raw, late-blooming saviour.

III

child raised at the breast of war, nursed on the vengeance-warmed milk of preservation. Astrid was born into adulthood too early, tongue soured by the greasy blood of an inherited hate. but then she touched the sky, mingled her fingers in the dewy cloud mist, and knew all at once that softness could be her beauty too. palm lines soaking the warmth from inky scales, she greeted the wind, relished its caress upon her nape and chose the whispers of peace.

IV

Miriam watched the river take her brother, basket of hope near plundered by the snapping jaws of fate and the oars of oppression.