Thursday, October 14, 2021

Mother of All or None?


 

SHE arrives and so have they

The drums roll, the conch blows

Multitude take a solemn bow

Incense announces autumn is here.

 

There SHE stands tall on faith’s dais

The clay eyes still and silent

Life evokes colourful prayers

For those who survived another day.

 

Mothers all around seek answer

The question plagues their soul like cancer

Each breath is a burden of their pain

The price of a smile is not lost in vain.

 

Hollow heart hides the little teardrop

Million faces and not one that is her son

She narrates his tale to the vacant chair

A hint of jealousy glistens in Devi’s visage.

 

Amber is the colour of this season

Salutations for Goddess echo through her courtyard

Drums beat faster, he dances in gay abandon

Guilty each moment of a debt unpaid to the only one.

 

Deity is the same, prayers have altered

Bangles chime the furtive love stories

Let it rain she orders her quivering lips

Rights vermillion bestow, his death strips.

 

Lotus after lotus scrambles to adorn Her divinity

Each dream leaves my mother’ sleep empty

Agony would be music if her prayers could be sung

Peace is unfaithful, a secret inked in Durga’s third eye.

 

- Sutapa Kar





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