Hijra

Hijra
by Tilok Adnan


She walks as a woman
More pronounced
Bangles hit her thighs
Those that swerve better
More pronounced

"Tread lightly" isn't in her vocabulary
She jolts along the crooked sidewalks
Where men struggle to jog
Her struggle is the quota she must meet
Preferably through empathy
More often than not, it is
Found in sympathy or annoyance

She is not a beggar
She demands like a woman
More pronounced
She is confident that
This is who she is now

A closer look at his adam's apple, adamant
There is no guilt in wanting livelihood
His face shines through her long hair
She must have inherited his nose from her father
His chest doesn't protrude as much
Only what her bra allows, like a woman
More pronounced

Her genitals a mystery
We assume that it's his
Her rolling eyes in rejection
More pronounced
Than a woman's

Eyeballs moving so far under the lids
Does she not see us when she does that? 
Are we gone for a millisecond?
Or Do we not see her for her?
Do we just see who he is
More pronounced?