Poems by MANJU

Two Poems

Manju

The Lost Love

Thou went away not to return as the feet of compass do

Wait became unending; again I could never find you

They said ‘Lovers’ sighs don’t cause floods, drown none’

The chill of thy separation; let me never see the sun

I sank deep down with the loads of love

How false was John Donne by calling us hawk and dove

Thy love was so fatal; I ached day and night

People clicked their tongue out of mercy at my sight

Beware of love! There is nothing to boast

One turns into a vacuum when one’s love is lost.

The World is Too Less With Us 

   I came on the earth and grew up like a weed

No need to write no right to read

I spend my days like "The Solitary Reaper"

Often an unpaid labourer seldom the orchard keeper

I am brought up by nature like "Lucy Gray"

Like the birds I sang and shone like a ray 

Like the tale of Cinderella I too had a Dream 

One or other day I would become the queen 

I kept on waiting but no King came 

I laughed a lot, with a pride I moved 

With nature I learnt and there only I proved

I sat on the thrones high in the trees 

The servants did not fan me as it was done by the breeze 

What could I have with the world and its words 

I heard about the people like those dying lords 

Thankful to the God who saved me from this mess 

How happy I am as my needs are less.

 (Published 14th October 2019)

Four Poems

Manju


The Tale of Ahilya’s Betrayal

Once upon a time there lay a rock on the bosom of its mother

Once a dotted wife like a cow tied to its tether.

Ravished was she as if it was her fate

The owner of the heaven came as her husband was late.

He loved her like her husband and she could not guess

As he had the same face and same was the dress.

Though her husband’s feet were her heavenly abode

She always walked where he decided the road.

She was punished and turned into a rock

This was not an end, she had another shock.

Behold! Who came to save her life?

Famous as Purushottam, betrayer of his wife.

Ravished, punished and saved without any cause

Still benign to her husband, as it was one of the social laws.

Draupadi: A Woman with Five Vulnerable Husbands

The scream of an illegitimate voice

It has ceased to hear itself, therefore

it asks itself 

How do I exist? – Adrienne Rich

Five were they who owned me  but I had none

None could I hold, none could I shun.

Standing alone in the extreme corner, waiting for their response

I screamed aloud and gave my voice amplified resonance.

Why did I scream? Do they ever bother?

What if I got trampled, they will bring another.

The day I stretched my lips, the earth shook

Lives fell as dry, autumn leaves; blood flew as if a brook.

When I uttered some indignant words, I anguished a lot

I lost all what I had and what not.

Were my words so fatal that they still scourge me?

All wrong to me was accepted; all could do nothing but just see.

Was that stretch so profane that I still compensate;

Still they behold me with eyes full of hate.

Still my sari is torn and I made to sit on thighs

No one rises, no one roars, they just have silent sighs.

The gale was blowing and my nest is fragile

No could see my pain as I wrapped it in a smile.

But my shadow often asks me 

When will it suffice?

When will it suffice?

Fictitious Reality

Whenever I cried as I do it often

You always came with a hankie in your hand

Whenever I was surrounded with the goons

You swept them as if you hold a magic wand.

Whenever I drowned

You came as an expert swimmer

You taught me the lesson of life

 I, just a useless dreamer,

I made mistakes

You were always right

I, just a dark shadow

Thou, always luminous bright.

You precarious came back

Piqued by having same kind of fun;

I accepted you and adorned with a title

I was addressed Biwi No. 1

This double standard society

 Enjoyed your winking eyes;

The more they were amused

The bigger were my sighs.

Whenever I giggled

 I faced a social wrath;

They mocked at me

Called me Wife of Bath.

You the privileged ones

Your path is secured from Lakshman Rekhas

For me there are many.

I long for the time when Things Fall Apart

And I will place them in order.

Lo! I can hear approaching footsteps. 

The Journey of Innocence

We rode in a bus

Both of us.

In the shade of affection

In the path of glee

Two small saplings

On the journey of being a tree.

Hearts full of innocence

Jumping in lighted lanes

In our childhood

Fairies lived in the plains

We teased each other

At a height we roared

We fought to decide

Whose was the highest score?

Shallow was our well

Dwarf was the hill

We shared the bun

Kept in the oven still.

Our favourite game was

To kill ants and tapers

We crossed deep seas

In the boats of papers.

We showed tantrums

Yet we loved each other

Learnt the lesson of love

From me and my brother.

                                              

Dr. Manju teaches English in the Department of UILA, Chandigarh University, Punjab.