Touch A Woman

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Originally uploaded by heylancebaker.

So I’m joining the Celebration of International Women’s Day, I’m celebrating discovering my womanhood. However the layers of this celebration lead me celebrating my interracial roots as a woman. For being Afro-Arab or Arab-Afro, indeed it took me awhile learning and accepting it. Born in a small island called Pemba which is part of Tanzania, some feel that I should have an automatic sense of belonging to my African heritage, as a child who have never lived in Tanzania and been brought up in the United Arab Emirates and Sultanate of Oman. I was more raised in Arabic heritage. Going to Tanzania in 2006 was a great learning experience for me, as I saw it in everyone’s eyes how proud they were that I was born in Africa and write poetry. I was told that when you write a poem for one country in Africa it represents the whole Africa, when I heard that I had tears in my eyes(I just can not explain it, there was so much pride for being part of African Continent).

I was lucky enough to also meet a very beautiful woman her name is Rebecca Musi, a cancer survivor from South Africa. Since I met her in 2006 she has become a fuel empowering me to continue on writing Brave Faces for Breast Cancer Survivors in Tanzania. So I dedicate this Day for her courage and believing in me. As I’m writing this, I can hear her words “When you touch a woman, you touch The Rock”.

~ Touch A Woman ~


When you touch
Touch a woman
Feel her strength
Linger a little,
Into her soul
Swim into her beauty
You'll be in the water
That’s when you'll taste,
The aroma of her
Its the smell of ocean
The water of who she is
Still yet you will find
There is pearl of you
Hidden so deep,
In the womb of her ocean,
Within precious line of her soul
And if you don’t understand
All this poetic words
Touch a women's soul
Only then you'll comprehend
The deep meaning of my words


When you touch
Touch a woman
Gaze a little into her pain
That’s only when you'll know
Why she is a woman
You'll see her fragile shoulders,
Are just carrying endless weight
Heavy clouds she might be,
Carrying shower of tears
But its not grey clouds that you'll see
She is all sunshine of smiles
So when you touch:
Touch a woman


So whenever there lust beats
That keeps knocking on your door
Answer it back swiftly
That you have touched
Touched a women
You have all gone
Gone on a exploring journey
Sank deeper than her mountains
You have touched core of her soul
Your whole being just reached
Where no man can ever reach
Climbed the peek of earth
Your breath swept away
Yet you explore
As you touch a woman
Its was merely touching your soul
As deep within her
There is pearl of you


Copyright 2007 Nasra Al Adawi


Inspired by South African saying “When you touch a women, you touch the rock”

I also would like to dadicate the above poem to special women in my life, My Mother for being herself, My Raising Mother Barke for being with me always, Ummi for her sisterly love(right to my heart), Robyn being a mother to me standing beside me and her love reaches me as always even though she is in Australia, Anne Marie for being a good friend with unconditional love, Tahira for her friendship, Montse for pushing me to explore writingas as much as I can, Surinaa for being always there for me, Amias for showing me the meaning of sisterhood, GEL the green eye lady for her words that keeps inspiring me. Thank you for being here in my Life