Writing by Women

I am the heir of heirs, for I am death, who inherits all;
of all future things, I am their new beginning.
Of female things,  I am words,
I am those facets of the real
expressed in most womanly wise:
betokened by the spoken!
I am words, whose power is readily felt
in fame and reputation, rumor and report,
be they true or be they false. Such is the power of speech!
What’s said has no less effect upon us than what’s done.
and speech is woman’s particular power,
hers the force of recollection, she, with mind alert
holds firmly every word, makes the very tone her own,
preserves it with a patient and a persevering care.
Man speaks, but woman hears, and what she hears
is hers, unforgettingly, forever!

Bhagavad Gita 10:34, Oona Fernsby translation

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