Fear No More, My Babe Poem by Saratchandra Sahoo

In the wee small hours today
on TV, I have seen you
groping for your mom’s breasts
to suckle milk,
but she was sucked up dry to the dregs
by the bloodsucking motherfuckers
in the sepulchral still of the night,
and was bludgeoned to death.

The languorous dawn turns misty-eyed
in the Stygian dark
engulfing wood.

Earth Mother feels too shocked
to blink back her tears
at the stark panic and horror
flooding the gory spot,
with the breath of wind
overshadowed by the hushed whispers,
wailing and weeping
of the milling crowd
at the sight of the body
stripped nude,
in a pool of blood.

Your inarticulate woes
with the goggle-eyed gestures
have left me stunned here at home.

Feel not all alone, fragile soul!
a steady trickle of cherubs
will see you in a flash
to deliver you from the ordeal,
with the Earth Mother cuddling you
till you become your own man.

There you are; here I am,
But the distance between you and I
dissolves in a torrent of tears.

I am with you in spirit
in this world and the next, my babe.


Note: The English rendering of this piece of poetry from Odia is based on a news published in SAMBAD, dated the 24th April and the SAMAJ dated the 25th April,2012 - (SAMBAD & SAMAJ - two Odia daily Newspapers published in Odisha, a state in India)