A Woman With Numerous Names

You are a woman, with numerous names –
Whore,
Harlot, 
Courtesan,
Street Walker,
Concubine,
Lady of the night,
Prostitute,
a sex worker???

Bird of prey -
eyed by predator pimps, 
numerous numb nights 
spent in bleak brothels,
flocked like cattle in filthy sheds,
Time-etched face -
worn-out profane beauty 
concealed in mask of makeup
lures lewd customers
to satiate their lusty appetite
in the jungle of devouring groins.
Whirr of rickety wall-fan drowns in
cacophony of coughing customers
caricature of intercourse doodled on cracked walls 
painted with betel-nut spatter stains…
Blemished ruffled bed and
stink of semen-soiled sheets
mingles with fumes of cheap liquor 
and whiff of stale cigarette stubs.

Your wasted life – 
a snapshot of soiled images,
a tarnished tapestry -
smeared and smudged
with sexually transmitted diseases.
sheds tears of anger, hurt and deceit
for the relics of 
dreams of a dignified life…

I would rather call you -
Mother of manifold miseries
Sister of silent sufferings
Daughter of decaying despair
Wife of worldly woes!

Yes, you are still to me -
a woman with numerous names
and weeping eyes…
Copyright © | Year Posted 2013

Poem

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