Know your Price

Growing up, my sisters and I had gold coins for toys.

When there’s that much money around,

being beautiful isn’t such a big deal.

Somehow, we all were.

All my suitors started off talking about beauty —

and ended up talking about money.

One prince told my father,

Give me your daughter,

and I will give you eight times her weight in gold.

That night my father kept passing me the mashed potatoes,

and ordered extra dessert for the entire table.

For some reason I was remembering those gold coins

and how we sometimes put them in our mouths.

The taste of gold is something you never forget.

When my thoughts drifted back to the table,

my father was staring at my half-eaten pudding.

I could see in his eyes that he was doing the math.

That night I cut off my hair,

climbed out the window,

and walked away.

I knew it would be a long journey.

At least I was starting on a full stomach.

That was many years ago.

Looking now at these old hands,

I can’t help thinking

the prince’s offer was a little silly.

Any day now,

the crows and dogs

will get all this —

for nothing.

Know your price, my sisters.

Don’t accept less.

____

Poem by Anopama, a bhikkhuni (Buddhist nun)

from the Therigatha (Verses of the Elder Nuns), 600-300 BCE, written in Pali language

"earliest extant text depicting women's spiritual experiences"

English version: The first free women - poems of the early Buddhist nuns (2020)

Translation by Matty Weingast