Forget what I was talking about
Forget that it meant something
Only remember
That am a woman
My voice, unimportant
Choked
Words half chewed
Half spat upon
Veiled tears
Absorbed by the dry heat
Of the arid skies
You could sing a lurid song
As I try and cover myself bit more
And yet more
But you grope anyway
Clawing away
Like vultures on dead meat
As I breathe in gasps
The earth warm with anger
Nestles my fragile contour
Still frames of time
Muffled screams
Torn piece of paper
I sing an elegy
Just a woman
Just a piece of flesh
On the roadside
On the fields
On the railway station
On the hospital bed
That’s all I am
Better be back, before darkness
Better stay veiled
Yet, you never say
Monsters stay under the bed too
Monsters roam the streets
In broad daylight
And monsters hide behind
Known faces
Scrounging for a piece of meat
Dead or alive
-Rianka Bose Saha
