Ballad of a Dying Girl [✔]

3.

there is somehow sexism in dying too,

where certain diseases and death ravage women,

but not men,

(even our own bodies discriminate)

and the doctor's look disinterested and scornful when you describe your pain,

but not when your father does it.

there are tales of women dying after childbirth, 

dismissed and rendered 'healthy,'

sent home with not another word,

their heart collapsing the very next day.

(sent home to die).

liar, they scream to women.

then a proud diagnosis of hysteria follows,

or anxiety or depression -

why not both at once?

why not a delightful trip to the psych ward,

even as your mind implodes with inflammation,

with brain bleeds.

how brave you must be, they tell men, bluntly, kindly.

what can we do for you? 

men are strong and tough and rational,

so their pain must be valid.

and it's not that men can't suffer like this,

that the healthcare system can't tear them apart too,

but the difference is staggering sometimes.

a man's battle is in reality,

on battlefields, in the workplace.

a woman's war is in her own body,

consumed by it.

but that is her place, apparently.

to be wrapped up in childbirth and autoimmune diseases,

to stay in the home.