Quiet

quiet_poetry_madras_courier
A digital illustration, representative of the poem. Image: 7MB
How long will you praise me, cajole me and try to bludgeon me into submission by ascribing a social code of conduct?

They gave me names
One after the other,
The girl put in casts
One after the other.

First, they called me good,
I blinked and smiled,
I bowed to all the temples they asked me to,
Touched all the feet,
No word outside their dictionaries.

Then, they called me obedient,
Was I really? Maybe.
I blinked and smiled, I came home at 6,
Slept at 9 and dreamt of regular things
Not of loving, shouting or flying.
I marched and didn’t swim.

They called me nice,
My jokes were swished away,
And eventually, they died.
I blinked and smiled, yet again.
I took down notes of the do’s and the don’ts,
I thought- oh, but was that allowed for nice girls?



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