Latha Mohan Poet Free verse

Echummi's Learnings

Echummi was married 

even before she learnt to

wear a saree

and when she did learn 

she learnt to wear white

only white

and often when she passed a mirror

what she saw would chill her spine..

A shaven head, bare hands 

and bare forehead

Oh! how she would have loved 

to see colors..

A big red bindi, green bangles

a purple saree-

She was taught to drape herself

In a way she could hide her curves

And so Echummi learnt 

to conceal her beauty,

to hide her youth 

and to drown her verves

''Don't look at men ''she was warned,

And Echummi learnt

to curb her senses

and her impulses;

she learnt to stifle her 

dreams and her sobs;

She learnt to sleep on hard floors

not yearn for a caress or a touch;

Echummi learnt to cook every dish

And to abstain from delicious food,

She learnt to be absent

on all auspicious occasions

and not cross the path

of propitious people,

She learnt to go unnoticed

unrecognized

like a shadow on the wall..

Unheard, unseen

sinking into oblivion..

Echummi learnt to die 

even when she was alive!

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