Ghazal: Now That She's Left and Gone To Be Herself Again

Ghazal : Now she’s left and gone to be herself again Now she’s left and gone away, my clothes hang dry On the line for all to see – what a crying shame ! The lone cuckoo calls out in a haunting tone Who hears him down here but on wing – what a shame ! Pigeons and crows balance on the clothes-line And their droppings stain the sheets – Oh open shame ! She’s gone with shrieks from the magpies that dark day And left me with her first born – Block my shame ! Baby cries for all to hear recall her voice Where will it hide its face - Oh growing shame ! The musang miaows its woes in the jackfruit tree Now that the wild she-cat roams in wayward shame Baby gapes out the window and wonders why If earth and sky witness bear – painful shame ! Would that the mother hear the cuckoo call And lift her head to listen to quell my shame The jackfruit’s ripe and sags at the tree trunk A moaning woman at child birth - no shame The puffed monsoon pulls its South-West skirts up And floods the rice fields with tears, bitter shame ! Hamadryad’s hypnotic eyes turn ire red Fate keeps the mongoose from common death – O Shame ! Still the baby’s cries in my ears call to you What will I tell her later – wipe out shame ? My own shame mixed with no name to call my own No Elephant God of Wisdom can blot out shame ! © T. Wignesan – Paris, 2013