The reverberation of her footsteps
The euphony of her intoning anklets
While she meanders wall to wall
The tinkling bangles joke and chuckle.
Maa acquiesces with her invigorating babbles
I have my life here, my dearest tiny scion
The green to my leaf, my blossoming red heart
Still meticulously upbraiding her whimpers.
Ah! Then why lugging acute repentance after twenty?
Burden of bearing a woman against the cream of the crop**
Floods of gloom; poached life; bleeding bosom
I name it murder; They name it strife.
The canvas of the young body pied in crimson
A mother: How can a mother abnegate her sweetheart?
The ghastly and blurring glimpses of horror
Chasing, striding, and reaching to her.
Once a gratified mother deplores the past
Of why a girl to come to this world
Oh yes! To confront the blatant dominance of phallus
The fettered bird burned to death.
Can this disaster be surpassed; forgotten; forgiven?
The loss of her flesh and blood
Do you call the mother hysteric?
The flower there in earth lays with the crumbled bud.
*Prasuti: Goddess Dakshayani’s [Sati] Mother. The poem is inspired by the mythical story of the fire sacrifice of Mata Sati. Sati is first mentioned in the Ramayana and Mahabharata, but details of her story can be found in the Puranas. According to legend, Sati was Daksha’s favourite child who marries Shiva against her father’s wishes. Sati kills herself in the yajna (Fire-Sacrifice) to protest Daksha and uphold her husband’s honour after he humiliates her and her husband. The poem is about motherhood, and the complicated relationship of mothers and daughters.
**cream of the crop: A male child; socially celebrated
Madras Courier originally ran as a broadsheet with a poetry section. It was a time when readers felt comfortabl. sharing glimpses of their lives through verse. If you have a poem you’d like to submit, do email us at editor@madrascourier.com.
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