About An Unknown Lady Poem by DEEPAK KUMAR PATTANAYAK

About an unknown lady

Oft I wonder what beauty is;
And where lies the beauty,
Life’s little day slipping away silently,
Heart that was happy in the morning,
Shrouded with gloom in the evening,
And the few golden hours we treasure,
Cruising along the sea of life happily,
And the world out to define beauty,
Oft saw it in her witchery,
And she was out to redefine beauty,
With paramours a-plenty,
She traded in love that minted money,
She was a lady of sullied name.
She owned a palatial building, which
Was looked down on with shame,
One day a sort of civil war broke out,
Houses sacked and fruitful lands laid waste,
Revenge and massacres let loose to reign,
People weltering in their gore,
Running helter-skelter,
Looking for a safe place to shelter,
Many leaders and saintly Pharisee fled
In fear of being killed,
From the dying and the dead,
When the lady threw open her tarnished doors,
Dedicated the palatial building for the suffering lot,
Nursed the sick and the dying in scores,
Spent her life’s wealth for the suffering,
Until she became a victim and was dead,
And now what the world should utter,
Some tears, some prayers and some honours
A wreath of flowers placed on her
She embraced death serving all
That’s brave and beautiful,
And what the world should call her,
A tarnished woman or a holy soul,
And where in her lies the beauty I wonder……