Desecration Poem by Shikhandin Shikhandin

The Rakta Karabi blooms in blood red defiance.
Stupefying my neighbor's patch of pious flowers.
A pristine gray sky tilts with its load of secrets. But
no cloud splits apart. And, man does not yield

In this tug-of-war between nature and man
rivers in their rage whip off the clothes of fish,
cruelly making them thresh for shame
in the mud. There is no one to protest
their molested dignity. There is no one
to protect my neighbor's flowers.

But the Rakta Karabi blossoms have defied
protection. They have already
accepted their fate. And they have
let out their blood to pierce the sky.

Each blossom protruding like the violated parting
of a pre-pubescent virgin's thighs.



Note: Karabi is the Bengali word for Oleander; Rakta means blood in Bengali; the oleander flowers here are of the blood red variety.

(First Published in Pratilipi, India)