Pramila Khadun, MAURITIUS

A REVELATION

A woman is a revelation,

Not a retribution.

Hurt not the receptacle

In her flower of love,

Devour not her body

With eyes of lust.

Another day dawns

And another man is born.

Weary, oppressed and depressed,

She succumbs not to the destined

Trials and tribulations,

For, from baby to boy,

From boy to man,

Will all emerge from her lap.

Sometimes in reflective meditation,

At other times bereft of hope,

With the cosmos spinning around her,

She thinks of the damages

Done by a desire,

Sprouting from preconceived notions

Or simply a genetic inheritance,

Which holds her besieged

In between his legs

While she battles in a futile effort

To set her dignity free.

However, unrepentant soul that she is,

She steals not bright objects

Like the magpie does

Or flagellating herself with her failures,

Or masochist, loving her wounds and blows,

She focusses on her monumental achievements,

Her magnum opus, that will reveal

Her true and naked self

For she is a revelation.

MOTHER

Mother, evil passions had no sway upon you,

Nor were you afflicted by ego`s malady.

Poverty was neither a constraint

Nor a hindrance in your life`s journeying.

You never slept, mother, nor despaired.

Faltering and yet not falling,

Falling and yet not sinking,

Half broken in ashes,

Your life was full of challenges.

Mother, I still remember the song

You whispered over my cradle,

The way you washed my face

And the eternal strength and wisdom

That your eyes communicated to mine.

Your life, mother, was variegated

With deep thoughts and striking examples.

Your devotion to do good

Was as amazing as

Your love of humanity.

Mother, I shall continue loving you in silence,

Through you are so far away from me.

Where you are dwelling,

God is dwelling too,

Among your warm – eyed friends

And crimson – petalled flowers.

Sometimes when I`m lost in a lonely lane,

And the moon is hidden,

I think of you, mother.

Tears flow down my cheeks,

The cheeks that you used to kiss.

 I think of the crown of thorns

That life`s bitter calamities

Had cruelly put on your head,

And how diligently you guided me

To open up pathways

That lead to the golden palace

Studded with rubies and pearls.

I want to preserve and enhance, mother

All the queenliness I inherited

From your milk – white bosom.

In pilgrimage and in penance

I shall march forward, head held high,

And work for humanity with all my might.

Shower your blessings on me, mother,

Let that day come

When I have achieved my goal

And shaking your head approvingly,

From above, you will smile over me.

HOW CAN I FORGET?

How can I forget the rustic scent

Of the village where I was born?

Having known suffering of epic proportion,

How can I forget the trenchant images

Of resistance, revolt, poverty and defeat.

Epicist of the female experience,

I still remember the musical flow

Of voices and counter voices

Echoing along the long corridors

While my mother’s scourging authority

Would uphold the dignity of our downtrodden fate.

With fearless love of Truth,

Which still exerts a far-reaching influence

On my life and especially my writing,

I walk the path alone with no sense

Of fear, insecurity, fear of old age and death.

How can I forget the pangs of hunger,

The dry throat, the family tragedies,

The mind’s clamor that could not be stilled,

Worrying about anything and everything

At one and the same time.

I never knew how strong I was

Until strength is the only choice I had.

The child that I was, I became strong.

I learned that if life is amazing,

She won’t be easy

And if she is easy,

She won’t be amazing.

Pramila Khadun, a retired educator, is a poetess from Mauritius. Her poems have appeared in various anthologies mainly, The American Poet Naomi Nye’s anthology, The Vast Sky, National library of Poems, Maryland, The significant anthology by Dr Ampat Koshy, Brian Wrixon for anthologies, Spring Summer Autumn and Winter, Pics anthology, Diaries at Coldnoon and Amaravati Poetic Prism. She is a featured poet at PentasiB and her poems appear regularly in various e-zines and print journals. She has 4 poetry collections and a novel to her credit . Her book “Food and Nutrition Simplified” is currently being used by Cambridge School Certificate in Schools in Mauritius. Her two projects, “Understanding Diabetes” and her collection of 108 Poems on peace and love titled “Shangri-la” are currently under print.

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Women, Power & Creativity :: Setu, March 2019