She left, with me, our screaming dream
Her, unsuckled mother, my, unwed bride
A woman’s legacy, for a woman, to redeem
Aphrodite, as though, had prophesied!

With fatherhood, my manhood, reconciled
Gave way, to love, when estrangement
My heart cradled, a woman, in my child
Who yearned, to bear, her sacrament!

When shrines, of sin, burst out, from her chest
She learnt, to hide, her woman, from me
Between father, and daughter, a myth, called breast
Stood like, wall with, shame’s graffiti!

She found, woman’s creed, is to, bleed and bleed …
How else, you baptize, modesty’s melee
A father, found freed, what his, dream decreed
The Day, She Bled, That Girl Away … !

© 2021 Vikas Chandra