When your Name
was appended to mine,
My parents said-
“It’s for your security.”
Blinded by my Veil;
I couldn’t see-
It was a false promise.
In your embrace, I wanted to thrive,
to flourish, to live.
But I was pushed aside-
A bud that died,
Not blossoming
Into a flower.
When I asked for Freedom,
you gave me Abandonment.
When I asked for a Voice
to express myself-
you gave me Screams of Anguish.
When I asked to be Loved;
you gave me Pain.
I lie here now,
A discarded rag
Without an identity.
Keeping me company
are the scars on my arms-
Scars- a gift of
your undying love for me?
- Vijayalakshmi Harish
Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish
This is the poem for which I won the first prize at Ananya- an intercollegiate fest hosted by Sophia’s college, Mumbai on December 16th, 2005.
All participants were shown some photographs(with captions). Participants were told to choose one of them and write a poem about it on the spot.
The picture that I chose depicted a woman in a burqa, lying on the ground with her hand spread out as if she was trying to reach out to someone. The setting was of some dilapidated area, with tall and long brick walls on both sides. The picture had the caption- “ Isolated and Anonymous, to whom can she turn?”.
On the basis of the picture and the caption given I wrote the above poem