ME, UNBRIDLED

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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