Glass Shoes
Shirani Rajapakse
You came with a mold, a pair of
glass shoes I had to fit myself into,
like some lonely woman in
a fairytale you read as a child.
Sparkling in the light, gold details enticing,
you thought I’d fall for your gifts
unquestioning.
Your words attached to the shoes
like some strange design tumbled out
thunder across the sky.
Your rules, a
long winding list, like the potholed road
swirling up a mountain I travelled
a long time ago,
that made me sick of the journey
even before it began.
I refused to play.
Declined to walk in tall stilettos with
my toes pinching like
a million ants in attack mode,
my back weighed down at every step.
You tried to break me like
a horse in some foreign stable you
once visited.
I couldn’t be a slave to your
master command, thinly veiled by
your so-called modernity, the
worldliness you portrayed by your
cosmopolitan lifestyle.
Yet your mind dwelled deep inside
a cave in an ancient time
long forgotten by me,
but remembered so well by you,
the information guarded and
ideas nurtured within.
A Neanderthal in a business suit.
You were no different from the rest that
passed by my view, although I never
saw through it
until, until, until.
And then it was too late.
The glass ceiling restricted me, threw
me back every time I boldly took
a hammer to it, told me silently I could go
no further, until I walked
out, slammed the door, watched the glass
shatter into little pieces that reflected
my face like a million and one
photographs scattered on the floor, and
I started to live the way I chose.
Your glass shoes confined
and imprisoned me in
an invisible cage I never knew existed and
I’m still trying hard to break free, find
the door in this seamless place, my
song stuck, plastered to the walls of my heart,
my words crumbling, eggshells
in the silence, my voice
no longer recognizable and my
mind withered leaves
no one needs anymore.
About the author: Shirani Rajapakse is a poet and short story writer from Sri Lanka, with eight published books, most of which have won or been shortlisted for major literary awards. Her honours include multiple State Literary Awards (Sri Lanka), the Boao International Poetry Award (China), and international recognitions across Europe, Asia, and the USA. In 2025, she received the Gold Medal for Contribution to the Development of World Literature from the World Organization of Writers. Rajapakse holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Kelaniya and an MA in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.