906. Avataar Aanandhamayi - 04-Tribulations 160708 Poem by Raman Savithiri

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Dhamayanti, having given
Birth to nine children
Was chronically sick
And turned wicked
Only unto Sudhamani!

She overloaded
Sudha’s small shoulders
With never-ending chores
Just because she loathed
Sudha’s dark skin tone.

Her pleasure had no measure
As Kasturi, the first daughter
Was college going butterfly
And as Subagan, the first son
Was school going caterpillar

Sudamani, who was dark
Who got always first mark
Could not win parents’ care
Thus given household chore.

From morning three
To night eleven, without free
Sudha toiled unaided
Her cries unheeded!

Her endless duties
Include
Cleaning abode, sweeping compound
Fetching water, cooking food
Tending cows, washing dresses
Attending kin and brushing vessels….

Her hands toiled
But mind boiled
To reach Krishna
To find end for anguish

Chased by toil
The tiny girl
Could not reach school
Promptly in time acceptable.

Teachers from their part
Made her stand out apart.
Standing out of the class
Learned lessons, little lass.

When she was graded
To class five
Her fortune degraded!
She was enforced
And was enslaved
To abandon schooling
And to become housemaid

While doing all
Domestic duties well
She would sing
Krishna’s names
Or devotional song
Describing His games!

At times
She would be absorbed
In her devotional mood
Forgetting totally external world
For others’ thinking her as mad!

If she overslept
Due to overburden
Damayanti would not
Hesitate to pour out
A bucket of water,
Upon the girl little!

Though Sudha made
All works without fail
If Dhamayanti found any error
She would turn Sudha’s terror
Corporal punishment
Would be definite.

Sudha badly wanted
To have her dress dried.
Which were always damp
Due to fetching water,
For house and cows.
Her top head turned bald
Due to heavy water pot load

But she forgot
Beloved Krishna not.
Sudha’s only solace
Was Krishna in her lace.
She would shed tears
Together for many hours.

Night when others rest
Her only time best
To talk with Krishna
She would not be slept

Neither rest nor sleep
She wanted only to weep
Unto her Krishna beloved
Pouring out agonies untold

“The time spent
In thinking God alone”
Now also she tells,
“Is utilized well
All other spans
Which are spent
In worldly acts
Are mere waste”.160708