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I Am
I Am
Someday maybe
I was a woman known
Or unknown to you
Were you able to see
Who I was then?
Did you recognise me?
I have been once a dark night,
A bold and dusky Rajani,
I have been a bright star
A beautiful Kritika or Ashwini.
For so many centuries
You have waited for me.
I was Jeunet’s Amelie,
I was Tagore’s Nandini.
You loved me sometimes
As Amit, Ranjan or Nino.
For millions of years
I was Charulata, Bonnya, Juno.
There were times when I was Durga,
Aditi, Parvati, Kali and Lakshmi,
Hera, Athena, Minerva, Electra,
Chandramukhi, Antigone.
All of these women were me.
In so many guises and shades
I have been near and far
In different personas,
Through the decades
I have appeared over and over.
I have come to you so many times
As Rosalind, Viola or Portia,
You saw me as Nora, Elisa, Raina,
Isabella, Venus and Hippolyta!
From Desdemona to Olivia,
Beatrice to Cordelia.
It was always me
who you did see.
I was Miranda, I was Celia,
I was Juliet, I was Titania!
Did you not recognize me
In truth, honestly?
Or did you refuse to know me
By your own will, purposefully?
I am a dancer, a painter.
I am a Goddess, a whore.
I satiate you, fulfill you.
I keep you longing for more.
A writer, a singer, a poet I am,
An actor, a mother, a stripper.
Ignore me if you can!
I am joy, I am sorrow.
I am the laughter that knows no tomorrow.
I am the tears of melancholy,
Madness, passion and victory,
Yesterday was only about me,
Like today and tomorrow will also be.
I am love, lust, loneliness.
I am death, defeat, darkness.
I am anger, separation and sadness.
I am light, longing calmness.
I am soft, sweet stillness.
I am the dark cloud of monsoon skies.
I am the sweet sunshine of sunrise.
I am the abundance of springtime
I am the familiar tune you swear by.
I have been forever
Everything you longed for,
A woman of your dreams
who might have been.
I am and will always be.
A figment of your imagination
Your reality.
Your creation. Your woman.
Know me for who I am.
I am She.
