Some threw stones at us,
many debased us with abuses,
varying slang besides venomous fangs,
all those scars and bruises on our backs,
like uneven pathways through mountain tracks,
the ‘natural’ punishments for an ‘unnatural’ affection,
my beloved and I suffer extreme pain and isolation…
Like poles repel each other while unlike attract,
we are heinous because it’s normalcy that we lack.
Yet, some magnets may defy these laws,
for what mortal ever existed devoid of flaws?
How would you feel if your body ever fails
to cooperate with your instincts?
Abandoned by family and society, my heart sinks…
Earrings suit me, so says the mirror,
femininity defines me, so it declares.
Yet I try to subvert nature
in ‘naturally’ feeling for another man.
Why let me live- why not impose on me an eternal ban?
Laws would be abortive if our thoughts don’t change,
natural or unnatural- love lies too infinite
to be limited within a range.
Someday, embellished with sindura,
I will walk safely through the streets of the nation,
no more would I fear stones; I’ll embrace complete emancipation.
Nature will revere me and my beloved as we tread along,
and thus, the natural and the unnatural will sing a unanimous love song.
-Shambhavi Misra
BA (Hons.) English
(Edited by Shreya and Pallavi
Art curated by Pallavi)
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