Fate

Nine months inside the womb go guessing

And when she is born, she is called a curse.

Somehow, she manages to survive everything

Preparing herself for situations worse.

No proper food, no toys to play with,

Her family can’t afford to send her to school;

No new clothes, only household work –

This is the orthodox society’s rule.

Chopping vegetables, sweeping the floor and

Washing clothes is her elementary education.

Cleaning the balcony, cooking food –

These are her only liberation.

And tardily she grows vernal,

Only suits she is permitted to wear.

“No going out, no making friends.”

Nobody for her evinces care.

She becomes hopeless, helplessness takes over.

She seeks support in her mother;

But her mother has the same mindset.

Her trust sinks, she wishes she had life any other.

The days pass, quickly as they do,

Beautiful she is now, she becomes a teen.

Her heart vociferates loud because

Yet the outside world she had not seen.

Suddenly, the hunt for a groom commences.

Even before she can take any decision,

Her father's focus shifts to young boys;

He wants the espousal to be held with precision.

Her life is about to alter

Her family has found their son-in-law.

He is beguiler, he is an achiever;

Seeing him, everyone’s dropping their jaw.

Eventually, the day arrives

When she must leave her house.

She is just eighteen, still immature

And is coerced to go with her spouse.

Her father gives a hefty dowry;

It seems like she has been sold.

“Be angelic, be courteous, be obedient,”

On the first day her mother-in-law had told.

From one house to the other

She didn't know what for her would await,

But God had different plans for her –

He was about to alter her fate.

Her husband loved her dearly;

She felt that she was blessed.

Her in-laws treated her well;

Her bad luck seemed suppressed.

“Start studying from tomorrow,”

One day her husband said.

Her ambition was accomplished;

She studied even before going to bed.

Time whisked by and she matured,

Straightened was her life’s curl.

She became aspirational and accomplished

And became her family's pearl.

Today she can read and write,

Behind she has left illiteracy’s glen.

Who can say once she was uneducated

And could not even hold a pen!

From a myrmidon she has become a queen,

Destiny inverted her life’s play;

From a bereft daughter to a jocund wife,

Her life had been molded like clay.

Sixty years she is at present,

Arranged marriage had brought her love.

Her life has become poetry

Like the end of a war with a white dove.