|
Love is not a lie.
The life we lived, intimate, without barriers,
Is not a lie.
The children born as the sign of our love
Are not a lie.
That we raised them like saplings,
With love in our laps,
Is not a lie.
That the children grew, crossed us,
And went ahead,
Is not a lie.
That he said "everything must go my way"
Is not a lie.
When I did not know, I said yes.
But after knowing, to say "you are wrong"
Is not wrong.
He won’t listen to a single word.
If he says "everything must go my way",
Then how?
In a marriage, both must say yes,
Each must adjust a little, and move on, right?
That very word did not please him.
"I am not a stone, not a rock, to lie there
Listening to whatever you say.
I am a human with a heart."
"She has no sense" — that one sentence
Was enough for me to seek a divorce.
And how many more words he spoke!
How did I love him?
They say love is blind.
It may be true. When I loved him,
I did not know his caste.
Our divorce too is not a lie.
He says he realized it after the divorce.
The tank’s water spilled into the fields behind the tank.
How can it return to the tank again?
My love is not a lie.
Our life together is not a lie.
Our divorce too is not a lie.
The children born to us are not a lie.
Our experiences are not a lie.
The hardships he suffered after I left him
Are not a lie.
That he said: "Come back! Be with me",
Is not a lie.
When he declared that only his word is scripture in everything,
Then why meet again?
I have no regret now that this has happened.
Yet, some ache in my chest —
If only he had listened to even one word of mine,
This would not have happened.
I came for his last sight.
With old memories, I bowed to his feet.
His body lay tied with ropes on the bier.
They had draped him in a new white cloth.
Covered in flowers, his final journey began.
For some reason, at the end, two tears
Rolled down, drop by drop. |
