How Long, O, How Long? Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

O how long, long, will you go killing her on suspicion,
The charge of adultery brought in
That she is characterless, that she is loose,
That she is immoral and deceitful,
O how long, how long,
Will you go charging her, framing her?

There was a time when burnt you alive
After the death of her husband,
Asking her to be a Sati,
A small girl
Unable to rise up to the pyre
And they readying the rituals to give
Courage to.

You weeping, holding the legs
And they,
They treating you callously,
Turning the heart into stone,
Treading blindly
With the superstitious steps of their own,
Believing hearsays,
With reasoning dead in them.

When you were born, they talked of the family burden and debt,
The bending and bowing of the head
As you will go to another family,
Not own
To keep the clan up,
Family honour
And your activities lay they under
Their allegedly scrutiny.

Sometimes killed they you
By giving a taste of salt at birth time,
Sometimes managed to get you thrown off
And you wept and wept
As the misunderstood curse
Which but Mute Divinity saw it
Without saying anything.