They Talk About... Poem by Ram Krishna Singh

They talk about customs traditions rituals and religion
and question me for marrying my daughter to a half
Muslim half Hindu down south in an unknown family
as if in desperation for failure to find a match in own caste
community religion or region and curse for compromising
family interests. They forget the cruel joke of marriage
of our son in Rishikesh and how they discarded traditions
and their own daughter to have a dip at Hardwar leaving us all
hungry. They didn't show the courtesly of seeing us off or the guests.
we swallowed their muck then as we suffer their painted love for daughter
that keeps her from accepting us as parents or husband and child
as her own family even after three years the gamble
continues. I live my faith awaiting the change in consciousness
while destiny drives the wheel through generations beguiled with
ego-fested myths, manicured mind and vested imagination


-R.K.SINGH