Ruby Red And Ugly Duckling Poem by Bipasha Haque

Mother earth is good
If one can afford it

Motherhood is unique though
All ma's have the authority
To do poetic justice

I'm in your orb:
A helpless agent
You play tricks on

It's a Tom and Jerry chase
Well… if not precisely—partially so
Yes, I'm too much in your orb.

Always I carefully avoid
Any such reference to this
Topsy-turvy relationship

At times, I must admit that
There comes a time when
You reconcile. Or I?

Till now I'm the ugly duckling
Incessantly waving hands to drawing your attention

Sometimes you pay, sometimes ignore
This melodrama mellowing, mellowing
Keeps ripening…….
No curtain ever falls or
Can ever fall
We're on an eternal parade
You and I, you and I.

How dear you are
How beautiful
How precariously precious!

I'd rather be the Echo
Always crawling
A step behind you

There has been a no man's land
Between us;
I've or you've - well—I don't know
Which of us would ever cross this
No man's land of a thing

I worship my fortune
That I was ever born
From such a womb

…………………….

My daughter calls
I must go.