Girl Child Poem by Boudhayan Mukherjee

What the earth fulfilled
In a single surrogate mother!
Has she nowhere to go but seek
Abstract smiles we read with soft eyes?
And what about life that ceased to exist?
Dr Mukherjee knew not
The power of mother earth.
So a new pink baby was born.
A crossword puzzle remained unsolved
A newspaper unread flying like goose-feathers
In small tight rooms reached by stairs
The sounds of feet falling ebb-tidally
The baby cried shrill-voiced
A conch-shell scream erupting from her throat
The signal of a life new- -Dr Mukherjee smiled.

But its a girl-child, don't smile.
He knew she was less important
Although he had sired her.

The surrogate mother whined
When the baby was handed to her parents to be.