Her Promise

When she was very young, her mother told

 Girls are the light of everyone’s house dear

Whether it rains or shines keeping it alive ever

With a smiling face, she nodded and promised

With naked feet on the thorny forest ground

 Collected bundles of twigs and dried branches

Though struggled day after day never did she flinch   

She kept the fire in her house fire burning bright

She picked up berries, sometimes scrubbed houses

In the pouring rain, in knee-deep mud planted saplings

In the blazing hot sun did harvest and  drying

But she always earned to keep the fire burning

One day she was married just like every girl

Her hard work never changed even a single day   

She slogged, scrubbed restlessly worked for the house

Till she kept the fire of the husband’s house burning

The vultures of husband’s house for dowry lust

On a dark night mercilessly set her on fire alive

As the pyre of her body burnt bright in the night

She still kept her promise, her pyre had lit the house