Unleashing the gentle wolf, this poem celebrates inner strength, a kind and fiercely protective force
My therapist says
I have a gentle wolf
living inside me.
She means, I think,
that I am kind,
but also wild.
That I can be soft,
but also fierce.
That I can nurture,
but also protect.
I like this idea
of a gentle wolf.
It makes me feel
less like a sheep,
and more like
a guardian.
It makes me feel
less like a victim,
and more like
a survivor.
It makes me feel
less like a woman,
and more like
a force of nature.
Deepa Agarwal writes for both children and adults and has over 50 books published. Among various other awards, she received the N.C.E.R.T. National Award for Children’s Literature in 1993 for her picture book Ashok’s New Friends, while her historical fiction Caravan to Tibet was on the IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) Honour List 2008. Her work has been translated into several Indian and foreign languages. Her latest titles are The Begum (Penguin Random House India), The Teenage Diary of Nur Jahan (Speaking Tiger), Blessed (Hachette India) and Kashmir! Kashmir! (Scholastic India).
