The Poem

Poem to Sarojini Naidu

Poem to Sarojini Naidu


Teach me to sing

Born on the same dawn

Aeons apart, I, with broken wing 

Content in your shadow, alone.

Fever, puberty, fear of reprimand 

These, the bars of a leaden cage

On hour glass, silent slip of sand 

Who will trace hierogJyphes

On my empty page ?

The march to Dandi, ovation of the crowd

Witchcraft of words, heady opiates

Continually on wave crest you rode

All these, my common life repudiates.