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“Happy
Marriage”
by
Taslima Nasreen
(August 20,
1999) Several works by feminist author Taslima
Nasreen are banned in her native Bangladesh. Her writing,
which often focuses on the condition of women and the role of
religion in their oppression, has outraged many fundamentalist
Muslims who believe her beliefs slander Islam. The following is
an excerpt from Nasreen’s poem “Happy Marriage.”
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Taslima
Nasreen in 1995. (Photo courtesy ofInternational PEN.)
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He’s wanted my
heart under his control
So that I would love him;
In my lonely house at night,
Sleepless, full of anxiety,
Clutching at the window grille
I would wait for him and sob.
My tears rolling down,
I would bake home-made
bread,
so that I would drink, as if it were ambrosia
the filthy liquids of his polygynous body.
So that, loving him, I would melt like wax,
Not turning my eyes toward any other man
I would give proof of my chastity all my life.
So that loving him
On some moonlit night, I would commit suicide
In a fit of ecstasy.
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