Poems - Mini Babu
Poems - Mini Babu
1.
Yashodhara
You moved out like a timid
that night, without a word,
stealthily away from my arms,
into the dark, to be the light,
I turned away from your side,
to where my son slept,
and held him in my arms,
thereafter to be my light.
I woke up to a day
without you,
in time, they named you,
"Buddha, the Enlightened, "
and you travelled,
with the ease of light,
in the kingdom and further along,
but I with dreary steps
as unlit as that night,
and hurt by the knowledge
of a wife deserted,
kept away from light,
because they said,
you were the light.
But the day,
you showed up at the palace,
I believed it was remorse,
but as I witnessed our son,
close behind you,
out of the palace,
into the road,
I ceased,
never did I bleed
from that time on,
but oozed,
the clogged blood,
of the dead.
* Yashodhara was the wife of Gautama Buddha.
2.
Mandodari
I was a household on fire,
cursed to sleep
with a man who
longed for another woman,
no earth did portion
to soothe me in its shadow.
I was as gorgeous as Sita,
remember,
Hanuman mistook me for her.
I knew Rama was no
unexceptional,
and Sita, no unremarkable,
I deterred Ravana
from holding on to Sita,
to me, she was merely
another woman,
dispossessed of family,
I knew my husband's
high-handedness,
when it came to women,
I, too wedded him
not of will.
*Mandodari is Ravana's wife in the Ramayana.
3.
Ophelia
Upon my father's death,
I ceased to remember
the language of sanity,
I set about talking
in riddles and poetry,
I sang of virginity and loss.
They say,
I ought to have wedded
Prince Hamlet,
but I have made myself
so commonplace by roving
the streets with flowers,
I ungarbed myself
of royalty.
They say, he stated,
he loved me more than
forty thousand brothers
ever could,
that was while my brother
leapt into my grave
to hold me in his arms.
They say,
mine was death by water.
Upon my father's death,
I ceased to remember
the language of sanity.
*Ophelia is a character in Shakespeare's Hamlet. She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet. She, due to Hamlet's actions, ends up in a state of madness that ultimately leads to her death by drowning.
Dr. Mini Babu is working as Associate professor of English with the Dept of Collegiate Education, Govt of kerala and now working at BJM Govt College, Chavara, Kollam. Her poems have featured in anthologies, journals and magazines. Her collections of poems are Kaleidoscope, Shorelines and Memory Cells. Her co edited collections of poems are Meraki and Glass Bangles.
Sivarenjini J
Oct 19, 2022The poems are really so impressive. It really helps one to rethink about all the facts they have read or learned about the great male figures in history especially who have read about 'The Englighted Buddha' would have never thought about his partner Yashodhara and the pains she had suffered in all her life. It's the same about the other two figures . The poem actually represents the unnoticeable women figures who had to face traumas while their partners are so celebrated and worshipped . Really appreciatable Ma'am for focussing on the women figures who were considered insignificant.
Sivarenjini J
Oct 19, 2022The poems are really so impressive. It really helps one to rethink about all the facts they have read or learned about the great male figures in history especially who have read about 'The Englighted Buddha' would have never thought about his partner Yashodhara and the pains she had suffered in all her life. It's the same about the other two figures . The poem actually represents the unnoticeable women figures who had to face traumas while their partners are so celebrated and worshipped . Really appreciatable Ma'am for focussing on the women figures who were considered insignificant.
Gouri Mohan
Oct 19, 2022The poems are really wonderful. Simple in structure easy to understand but conveys a lot of meanings. Within a single read the reader is able to understand the pain each protagonist is going through. Taking the most prominant lady figures as example, poet has clearly drawing the images of many women who are forced to live a life of misery.
Gouri Mohan
Oct 19, 2022The poems are really wonderful. Simple in structure easy to understand but conveys a lot of meanings. Within a single read the reader is able to understand the pain each protagonist is going through. Taking the most prominant lady figures as example, poet has clearly drawing the images of many women who are forced to live a life of misery.
Nandana
Oct 18, 2022These poems proved to be an awesome insight into the minds of the brave women of history, which usually gets unnoticed. The poem Ophelia clearly shows the psychological trauma. While everyone praises Ram, Sita, and even the terrific villain Ravan, Mandodari is often left unnoticed. As a poet, it is really great to portay the emotions of Mandodari. Gauthama Buddha and his sacrifices are known to the world but the woman who sacrificed life with her husband to enlighten the world, was unknown to the majority. Reading these poems was truely a worthy experience for me.
Nandana
Oct 18, 2022These poems proved to be an awesome insight into the minds of the brave women of history, which usually gets unnoticed. The poem Ophelia clearly shows the psychological trauma. While everyone praises Ram, Sita, and even the terrific villain Ravan, Mandodari is often left unnoticed. As a poet, it is really great to portay the emotions of Mandodari. Gauthama Buddha and his sacrifices are known to the world but the woman who sacrificed life with her husband to enlighten the world, was unknown to the majority. Reading these poems was truely a worthy experience for me.
Anu Kalyan S
Oct 18, 2022Through the foregrounding of those characters who remains on the margins of those epics , these poems are able to explore the silence that still prevails in the life of every woman...