Loneliness

Having a noisy family around

All twenty-four hours a day

Who would believe her story, if

"I am so lonely" she would say?

She was dusky and beautiful

Vivacious and shy

She looked healthy and happy

Nobody saw her cry.

When I got to know her closely

I found something missing

She had a mask upon her face

Smiling but silently suffering.

Last week while feeding stray dogs

I saw her glum face

I asked and she broke down telling

The saga of disgrace.

They courted for ten years

She told me that afternoon

He was tall, refined and robust

Many girls would swoon.

He proposed her for marriage one day

All of a sudden

Its been twenty-four years, now

He treats her like a burden.

He feeds and gives her shelter

Just that a husband should do

Rebukes and ridicules

To be silent and never argue

She should be at home he demands

If he drops in during breaks

He gets infuriated, so she attends to him Whatever it takes.

She cleans his clothes and his house

She cooks for him and oils his hair

But never in these twenty-four years

Has he ever taken her care?

He pushed her to their kid's room

Half naked last night

He was lustful and she was bleeding

Was enough to begin a fight.

She narrated the miserable ordeal

Wiping her teary eyes

The physical and mental assault

She endured, she despised

She had scars on her cheeks and neck

And love bites on her body

The love is lost,

There are the marks

Disgusting and shoddy.

He loves me so he wants me, he says

I too feel I should obey

Whatever but he is my children's father

And he wants me laid every day.

I am a woman of flesh and blood

For how long should I tolerate

I am exhausted and disheartened too

He says love and I call it rape.

He buys me dresses and gives me food

He pays our children's fees

I may laugh and may seem free

But sadly never at ease.

My eyes brimmed with tears

Her husband's footsteps we heard.

She placed her finger on my lips

I promised I shall keep my word.

She is armed with intelligence and compassion

She has everything to impress

People know her as a chirpy bird

I know her for her loneliness.