Why Did You Do It, Mom? Poem by Santosh Bakaya

WHY DID YOU DO IT, MOM?
[This poem was triggered by a news item saying that a newborn girl was found in a cradle outside an orphanage, and was adopted within a day, by a childless couple]
Why did you do it, mom?
I wouldn't endure whiplashes of any storm
Is this what you thought, mom?
Or, was it that the birth of only a boy
Would have given you joy?

Oh come on, mom, I was not frail.
Actually no girl is, why did you fail
To realize this mom?
You are also a woman, mom.
I would have loved to romp and roar
In our garden with my sisters four.
Happy wearing their hand-me -downs
Unfazed by the weird world's wicked frowns.
With my sisters four, I would have danced and sung
But alas, away I was flung!
Why did you do it, mom?

Was I a curse? A truncated verse?
In a cradle outside an orphanage I lie
Did you give me a tight hug when you bid me goodbye?
Did your heart weep? Were you able to sleep the night before?
Don't cry now mom.
But pray, tell me, why did you do it mom?

The storm has come and gone.
And I am about to be reborn.
Hush, look, there is a couple coming towards me
Ah, the lady picks me up.
She kisses me on my forehead, lovingly pats me on the head.
But, why is it mom that the bliss of your first kiss refuses to leave me?
And that first soft, soothing touch, ah I miss so much.
Mom.
Why, why, why did you do it, mom?