Friday, May 25, 2012

A Nest For Nine Months

From this point , her world
would be barren; she knew
Monochromatic,
away from the last trace of any color
All the Surrogate Mother
could see was...
Destruction ....
at its worst, eccentric spirit…
She'd chosen to sell her flesh.
Dreamt.. to let her child go?
In an impulse she rented her womb--- for money!
Ah, her conscience barked at her futile reminiscing
tears trickled in sympathy; and
… she sighed!
The hired womb,
had perfectly stretched with time,
A seed beneath the warm layers of her belly
Was now ready… to be born
The outside shimmered with streetlights
And she started praying
... time to take up cudgels; she thought
The final onslaught
Of breaking the last thread of connection
Wasn't gong to be easy...
Her body trembled with a contraction
Firmly gripping the mattress with her hands 
She sat on the edge of her bed, very carefully
Afraid of hurting the baby, she waited
Ripples of contractions floated through her belly
She roused and moaned;
still working with precise effort
In a few more pushes,
Came a baby girl....
with her hands stretching out
feet swinging in the air; with aspirations in heart
She started crying
Her lips were dry, her mouth was searching
The Mother kissed her forehead
Put her child to her breast,
The child latched on at once....
Mother murmured:
“Oh, my sweetheart. One day you’d understand
The unobvious absurdities of life.... I am sorry.”
Despite her exhaustion
She left the baby on the cot, and took a few steps
Stopped; .....went back to the baby,
The poor child woke up with a start, linked her hand in her mothers
Those li'l fingers were like bones of a little bird 
But, their tiny power over her mother was total
Sensing her mother's moving away she started protesting 
The infant’s thin wails rose in the darkness,
the small body slid into a pair of waiting hands
The new mother’s lullabies started weaving with her cries
For several seconds,
she stood silently outside the door
Finally....
She pulled and dragged herself out of the corridor
The shutter-gate of the hospital was closed;
she walked up; kicked hard at the gate,
... the booming echo somehow satisfied her
So kicked it again, several times more,
until she was breathless!
A man’s voice woke her up,
It was the new Dad.....
with hands shoved in his pocket; he was watching her
Deliberately calm, deliberately quiet;
… he seemed so very grateful.....

17 comments:

  1. Heart touching lines..Very nice poem..:-)

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    1. Hi homemaker!...If i may confess. This time more fact less fiction...:-)

      Thank you:)

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  2. Thanx for your visit and your appreciative comments. magiceye! Your comments cheer me up...:))

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  3. poignant...wonderfully composed:)

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    1. Thanks as always, Amit :)
      The laajawab comment is always so lifting ! :)))

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  4. Awesome!!! I was envisioning the events in my minds eye as I read your words and the scene was crystal clear thanks to the beautiful content! Kudos!!!

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    Replies
    1. Jaish_vat,
      Welcome to my space..
      Thank You so much - for the pat on my back. I feel so gratified:)
      Do visit again!

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  5. Replies
    1. Abhinav...A big thanks, am really happy you read it in depth :)

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  6. You are able to reach the complexity of the situation. From an outside perspective we have thousand views, but very hard to allow the woman who is the surrogate mother to speak--you have sensitively handled that!

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    1. Bhavana,
      So good to have you here...always :)
      How well have you read my thoughts..... Maybe, every surrogate mother has some gift to absorb the self created trappings of life...!
      Thanks for the implied kudos...means a lot to me :)))))

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  7. Am so happy you liked, Rajesh !
    Thank you :))

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  8. you have captured the pain .....

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    Replies
    1. Prasad N,
      Welcome to my space...Glad you liked the write-up... :))
      Do visit again.Thanks a LOT :)

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  9. Ah! the absurdities of life and its origin.So beautifully captured.

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    Replies
    1. Salty,

      Welcome to my space. :))
      What you heard was accurate...'the absurdities of life'--- painful, unimagineable and crazy !! Thank you for your visit. Hope to see more of you on these pages... :))

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  10. This is SO beautiful! :)

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