First they came asking for women
Who ‘painted were and were dented’,
And I kept mum— an indifferent man
That was nowhere by the said taunts tainted;
They came again asking for a woman
That crossed Lakshman1 line much painted,
I still maintained mum to me sacred,
Smug, my repute remained radiant red;
Then they came in western values to blame,
To them Bharat and India were not same,
Aloof, I felt there was nothing for me,
Not seeing what I wished not to see;
Some faulted her for not taking due care,
Not pleading to her molesters to spare,
Wordless, witless still, way-lost, lost of dare,
I stood there with a distant detached air.
Emboldened when at last they came for me,
It was too late for bell within to ring,
There was no one around to speak for me,
And found my own silence too deafening!
I scarce did know time there’s to be silent,
And time to speak out, not to be pliant.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
" Western values to blame" ! Thanks for sharing this poem with us.
Even I had to read my poem of 2013 again to know what it was about. Thank you Edward Louis for the comments.