45. In Cage Poem by Praveen Kumar in Simply Yours

Young she was, pretty like jasmine,
Fresh, pure, sweet, eager like dawn;
Impaled in nest, she looked for him
Through a tiny foramen, open for her,
Her ears agog for footsteps of him,
Heartbeats and mind unsteady, unkind;
Impatient of time, reasons or rhyme,
She waited for him like a newly wed bride
To lay her self on his eager self
And light her cage with love's sacred lamp.

She heard him come, look outside,
Saw him with fast thumping heartbeats;
Emotions swelled high, streamed to her blood,
Contentment and joy stirred her heart;
Her face lit bright, expectations rose high,
She waited for him, eyes struck on door;
He broke-in like warmth, dissolved in her,
They smiled and spoke small endearments;
I came straight here, dear, he said,
Though you are afar and oblivious of my world.

Oh, no, she said, I know your world,
What you do, when you come and go;
How come, my love, you, bound inside,
Nowhere outside, visible, he said;
She raised her head, smiled at him
With steady sunshine rioting in eyes,
Like love in heart, swelling over eyes;
Bound inside, I, indeed, she said,
In ways of world, in bones and flesh,
Only shallow eyes do see me in cage.

Do you think I am here, she quipped in style,
No doubt, I am here, yet, I am not here,
Except this shell, bound in this cold cage;
I belong not to shell, nor to this cage,
But, wherever you are, wherever you go,
There, I belong algate in mind and sprite,
There follow my soul, breath and heartbeats;
I know while you come, I know while you go,
Even eyes shut, she said by her eyes;
He heard dumb-bound, those entreaties of heart.

His passions swelled high, he spoke not a word,
For, she is too high for all words in this world;
He looked at her with unbound gratitude
With tears of joy, blurring eye-sight;
He spread his arms, gathered her inside,
Held her there, seeking her forever;
She was in cage, it was bad fate,
Neither he nor she could change it in age;
Yet, they remain for each, in cage or outside
In and beyond all subtle time and space.