International Women’s Day.
Speak Now
Written based on the Bible’s book of Esther, as told through a female lens.
Old Testament - Esther Chapter 4 verse 14
“If you don’t speak up now… you and your family will be killed…It could be that you were made Queen for a time like this.”
My mother named me Julia-Beth
And I am Harris by the lineage of my father
Today I go by many names as an embodiment of spirit - I am eternity’s daughter
In my reading of the book of Esther
I got the sense that she was not her own author
In the third person, she is described as an orphan, a concubine, and eventually a queen
A saviour of her people, voice unheard, sight unseen
I wondered about her – where had she been?
How would she tell it if she could really come clean
About how to stand a chance with the Persian King, she had to hide that she was a Jew
Her given name was Hadassah and her royal husband never even knew
Throughout history it seems the feminine voice was never meant to survive
A woman’s ability to question, to self-determine, silenced by design
[ to the church ]
When I say ‘Quiet’, you say - Why?
Quiet - Why?
Quiet - Why?
Because maybe as portals of new life
We hold a power so divine
That they decided - like God, this must be feared
That they decided - this must be burned at the stake, erased, and domineered
Again, Esther Chapter 4 verse 14 says
“It is for a time like this that you have been made Queen”
To break the silence of ancient scenes
Let’s travel back in time to when Hadassah is thirteen
In the Persian village of Susa, gravel grinds under horse-drawn carriages
While young women are traded into the silence of marriages
Some of them change their names and transform from orphans into queens
The secrets of the ages cling breathlessly to the lines we read in between
Esther Chapter 1 - Queen Vashti Disobeys the King
The book of Esther says that the Persian king already had a wife
Her name was Vashti, and with one word
She changed his whole life
Her word was ‘No’
One evening he called her from her chambers to amuse his banquet guests
But she was having a gathering of her own
She didn’t come, and so she had to go
In verse 17 it is decided that the King will pass a law -
That no woman in the kingdom could disobey her husband anymore
It is nationally decreed that men have complete control over their wives
Vashti is never heard of again
[ to the church ]
When I say ‘She’s fine’ - you say, Why?
She’s fine - why?
She’s fine - why?
Because since we’re reading between the lines
I’d like to picture Vashti reclined
Being fed grapes, one by one
By a strong-armed leaf-fanning type of guy
Newly divorced, she’s on a journey
spending her time how She decides
Esther Chapter 2 - Esther becomes Queen
With Vashti out of the way, the King is now single
In ancient times this is how a King would mingle
Verse 8
The King ordered the search for beautiful women
Many were taken to the palace in Susa
Esther was just one of them
Verse 12
The young women were given beauty treatments
for one whole year
The first six months their skin was rubbed
with olive oil and myrrh
And the last six months it was treated
with perfumes and cosmetics
Then they spent a night with the King
( as new recruits to his bedroom antics )
It was at this point that I started to wonder about the authorship of Esther’s book…
Did she exist, or was she just a literary hook
To serve the dubious narrative of antiquity
And would she even have gotten to meet Queen Vashti?
Or were they kept apart to stop them discussing the size of the King’s patriarchy?
[ to the church ]
When I say Sssh, you say, Why
Sssh - Why
Sssh - Why
Because differences are emphasised to create a divide between women
When our differences are what makes us need each other
What you don’t have you can get from your sister
But then we must dare to speak, to stand out
For the things, we feel the most vulnerable about
American author Audre Lorde speaks about feminist intersectionality
She says - being black, lesbian, and feminist all add
to her quality
She says - when this is acknowledged equally
And joined with other distinct female realities
That’s when we create something strong and new
She says - ‘Your silence will not protect you’
Imagine if Vashti and Esther had met
And traded points of view
They may have started a revolution
Sooner, rather than later
September 2022 - The Book of Mahsa Amini
Esther’s city of Susa is situated in modern-day Iran
The narrative of silence can be traced from ancient Persia to today’s Tehran
Where the murder of Mahsa Amini, for wearing tight pants, sparked political unrest
‘They say she was a peaceful girl who minded her business and avoided protest
And still, her story is iconic, cause for global interest
We are all connected, even when we are suppressed
In Esther’s book - she had to speak up
But as the author writes it, not for herself
Her proximity to the King allowed her to advocate
for everyone else
At his mercy, she risked something new
Let Hadassah through, and stood in the gap for multitudes
“You were made Queen for a time like this”
Said Esther’s cousin and guardian Mordecai
[ to the church ]
And when I say ‘Speak up’, you say, Why
Speak up - Why?
Speak up - Why?
Because if you don’t speak up now
You pass on silence, and generations of your sisters will hide
Behind generations of voices that died
Behind the veils pulled over their eyes
Behind male attention which they’ll depend on to survive
Behind the 2000 year old lie that Eve was but a rib from Adam’s side
Genesis Chapter 1
In the beginning, there was The Word
And the Word was good
It all started with ‘Let There Be Light’, as it should
The light does not suppress
Illumination is the purpose of our sacred texts
If needs be – rewrite them
If language is our pathway to understanding our world, the other, and ourselves
Then it is through our words that we conjure heaven or hell
The polarity of the feminine and masculine have different jobs
When they are not in balance – we are all robbed
And the cosmos responds with chaos
As the skewed earth revolves
When I say ‘Who Speaks’, you say - I
Who speaks - I
Who speaks - I
- Amen -
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