ME, UNBRIDLED – Poem
I started as a speck lifeless,
Inside a place dark and moist;
I was probed and I was tested,
I was loved and cared for, too.
I grew in size and sprouted limbs,
I grew a cord from my navel button;
Connected I was through this cord,
With my mom; she was my world.
I moved around inside my home,
Fists clenched and legs drawn in;
I kicked around on the walls soft,
“Ouch,” said the voice of mom sweet.
Days turned weeks, weeks turned months,
I was restive; I wanted to come out;
I could hear voices shout and scream,
“Push, baby, push” and mom pushed hard.
I started to float and I started to swim,
I came out slowly and ever so slowly;
I couldn’t see and I couldn’t breathe,
God, I got a slap on my back and I cried.
I was cleaned and then I was bathed,
I snuggled up to the breast of my mom;
She held me and she cuddled me,
I cried hungrily and she suckled me.
Hunger quenched, I dozed on her chest,
Soft lullaby for me, I heard her sing;
That’s how folks, I grew to be man,
Starting as a speck inside mom’s womb.
Today I am man, and insult that womb,
I turned chauvinist and woman beater;
I tease hapless eves, I ogle young girls,
For man I am and woman is my vassal.
I don’t respect woman or womanhood,
I forgot the womb, I forgot the mother;
I shamed even the Kaurava princes,
Who tried to disrobe a helpless Draupadi.
I make advances, obscene and vulgar,
Let a woman spurn me, I’ll surely rape her;
After quenching my lust and evil thirst,
I’ll slay her with no human compunction.
For, I know that, even if law catches me,
I will only get seven years at the worst;
Come out I will, sure as day follows night,
“Bachna ae haseeno, lo main aagaya” on my lips.
By Shyam Sundar Bulusu
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