Mirror Poem by Prafulla Kumar Panda

I

You're thrown away
into the heart of darkness
when you dare reflect the puckers upon her unkempt face
thrust with the heaps of mundane mass
now, at her thirtyshe doesn't rely on you
as you're unmoved at the anguish of a lovesick
as her happiness has crumbled like a house of cards
and her dream's prematurely shattered

certainly you can't reflect the darkness
where shadows least follow!
nor can reflect the pain that lie beneath her chest
the weight of which has accrued by her man's lust
what's the worth you stand for?
only to reflect her
every single day, when she cares her face less but paints more?
like the saucy sun,
you mark her scars on her curvy torso beneath her silky attire
which she willfully struggles to escape
and hides more
but you're hell-bent to expose them to the core!

II

Until sixteen
she did sheen
at every bit of your winking
as if you were a plaything
like a monsoon river
she's profusive in admiration at every bit of your pure reflection;
tirelessly she looked at
the kaleidoscope on her pink apron
that raised her beauty upon her bulgy brawn
like the sunken stars rising again amidst the wandering clouds
you, then meditated upon
her every smile, her every pious turn

when her love was bartered with the lust of man
and a price he valued over her shudder and pain
you failed to reflect her suffering
when she was canned by her inebriated man
as ages before, on thy tinsel bosom
least grown a Draupadi's agony
or Ahlya's strain
or of a Sita's examination!
though over ages they've turned murkier
but on a moonlit night
they're often mistaken
like the stripes of a sleepy cat

you have ‘en an ineffectual angel
only reflecting what's luminous and bright
happiness she's shared
but tears- with her remain
all alone, all alone
which she ruefully wants,
every now and then,
of a clear reflection
on thy bosom.

©Prafulla Panda, India
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