SUNITA SINGH

SUNITA SINGH

AN ORDINARY MAN

Oh Gautam, how harsh was your curse

The one you loved

You turned to stone

Oh Gautam, you were an ordinary man

Not all your penance or your prayer

Could make you shed the anger

Much like a jealous man

Husband of the most beautiful woman

Your property – defiled

A blow to your ego

You could not withstand

Love, forgiveness and kindness

Hallmark of an enlightened man

Wherefore gone?

Gautam, you were an ordinary man!

{According to legend, sage Gautam Rishi’s wife Ahilya was the most beautiful woman on earth. One day Indra god, disguised himself as Gautam and got intimate with Ahilya. When Gautam Rishi came to know of it, he was livid and, in his rage, cursed Ahilya to turn into a stone}

SPRING

Spring arrives like bells on my feet

Henna on my hands

Twinkling stars on my wrists

Blossoms of blush pink and radiant reds colouring my cheeks

Sun’s fingers embrace my earth

Rocks grow hearts

Dandelions shoot up

In the arms of the matwala Basant

I dance in wheat and mustard fields

Golden my skin-

Shining with the blessings of Persephone

Harsingaar, jasmine

Showering fragrant blossoms of love

Languorous days and moonlit nights of lovemaking

Tasting breaths of forbidden fruits-

Luscious and sweet

Splashing colours of phagun

Meadows and gardens bursting at the seams

But

It’s still winter

When will it be spring for me?

-Sunita Singh (All Rights Reserved)

RE-BIRTH

At birth it was decided how much she was worth

Her part of the world

Her portion of the sky

It was all fixed

The veils, all her attire

They grew as she grew

Voluminous and multi-hued

They hide her, she hides them

Masks she wears and pretends

Muffled voices she endures

Rising in rebellion, one day, she tears off her veils, all her masks she removes

Old clothes she rips off her body, till she stands naked

Staring, peering at herself in the mirror - a stranger to herself

Exorcising her old beliefs - a child pure and pink!

 (All Rights Reserved)

{This poem is a Roseate sonnet, a form of sonnet devised by Dr. A V Koshy, where the last four lines form the acrostic ROSE}

SUNITA SINGH