Headscarves

 

As a child, at school, the teaching Nuns wore elaborate

head coverings,never revealing even a wisp of hair.

Their plain faces were mooned by stiff white wimples.

 

As a child, at Mass, every woman’s hair was hidden by a scarf.

Among the designs it’s Paisley patterns and equine themes

I remember,  and of course, the lace Mantillas of the pious.

 

An adult now, I saw smiling, bonnet wearing, Amish girls

one summers day, exams over, arms linked, wandering

town, like their sisters in short or long, plain or coloured hair.

 

I wonder  why it is so many deny Muslim girls their own choices?

After all, when Roosevelt called forth an Arsenal of Democracy

Rosie rolled up her sleeves, put on her headscarf, and set to work.