She stood there a woman on 10th year
Baptized by the rites engraved in shame
Sobbing with pain o’er father’s fear
“Alas! What my li’l girl became”!

Entangled between two enigmas
Last spring in the throes of very first fall
Womanhood reflects social stigmas
Imposed on a girl’s profound recall!

A motherless lass whispered to me
“It bleeds, it pains, yet a yearning remains”
How a half-made woman’s misery
Is tethered to life’s cherished chains!

Thus left her cocoon my butterfly
Between two realms who reconciled
Immortal truth for a mortal lie
I bathed in a fire more than wild
The First Menses Of My Child!

© 2023 Vikas Chandra