I am the impeccable lady, full of grace and eloquence.  I am beautiful, lovely, a Mona Lisa among Mona Lisas.  I am a fair maiden smelling of roses and peppermint leaves gliding across the floor wearing a gown of pink Chantilly lace, a superb matching hat, gloves, a hanky and a sun-umbrella.  I brim with elegance and sophistication, the epitome of elegance and beauty.  I am a damsel in distress, a dandelion in the wind, a delicate and divine flower.  I am proper I am fair, prim, timeless and exquisite.  Gentlemen fawn over me like a priceless treasure hoping to possess my scented handkerchief, some even hoping to be that glove upon my hand so that they may touch my cheek.  I am uncharted, unconquered, innocent and composed.  I playfully flirt with my come-hither stares, as I bat my lashes and pucker my lips.  I am irresistible, flawless, and perfect - and undeniably, irrevocably... dead!  Yes I am deceased and demolished, departed and forgotten.

I have reincarnated; but this time as the modern woman, self-possessed and accomplished. I have now taken over and am now taken for granted and stripped of my estrogenic elegance.  Men no longer want anything to do with my hanky for it has shriveled up and turned into a brown Starbucks napkin.  I no longer wait for doors to be held for me; instead I open my own doors and at times even hold them for others.

No longer am I a damsel, and no longer am I in distress.  I am woman, hear me roar!  I can change my own tire, carry my own luggage, take out my own trash and take on the big bad world single-handedly thank you very much!  From maiden to vixen I morphed through time and presently strive for more and more independence.  Men no longer walk me to my front door after a date because I no longer wish to be vulnerable and nurtured.  Instead I demand independence, equal right and oh my - equal treatment? 

I, the lady, have fought so hard and for so long to be an equal that I have forgotten what it's like to be that lady I was to begin with.  I am no longer treated like a treasure but instead like an ordinary trinket.  I've gotten what I want and I am exactly where I want to be, I can vote, I have hopes of at least running for president if not becoming one, I can be a CEO, a big shot and yet why am I so unsatisfied.  Have I gone too far?  By relinquishing my womanly ways have I become too much of an equal?  Am I now just another pant-wearing man in a woman's body?  A go-getter, a do-gooder, a father and a mother a sister and a brother all rolled into one, has it really come to this?  Do I even need a man these days?  I mean I can do it all myself right?  Self reliance may be a cognitive aspect of modern life but let's try and remember that this is still a man's world but it ain't nothing without a woman.  I want to be caressed and cared for.  Where is that man who will lay down his cape so that I, a lady, may cross a puddle?  Chivalry is not so much dead but murdered by the almighty independent woman.  Give me flowers, give me had written love letters, stand up when I leave the room, remove your hat in my presence. I may be able to do it all myself these days but I still yearn to be a treasured whimsy, a damsel, a lady.

By: Lucky Clover