Daughters

The rich souls

Encased

In tender forms

Brimming with

Silent love,

And gentle care;

Daughters

Are that lonely

Slender tree blooming

In a vast plain

Providing cooling wind

And tiny but welcome shade

On a blazing afternoon;

They are an

Oasis in a scorching desert,

For the lost wayfarers

And exhausted caravans;

The daughters are

The Immortal

Ophelia,

Miranda,

Portia

And

Cordelia

To their fathers

Coming with

Various shades of gray;

Daughters

Are the unseen

Fragrant flowers,

Champa, Golden Champa

Or Magnolia

That bring alive

Dead hearts

And dead homes

With lingering scent!

Daughters

Sadly

Are most endangered species

In a feudal sub-continent

And elsewhere,

Treated as chattel,

Murdered in wombs,

Raped in homes or streets

By their own or the goons.

The innocents

Still considered as the

 Devi-incarnates,

These hapless

Little Goddesses

Need to be fiercely

Protected and guarded

By all of us!

(On Daughters’ Day: A tribute)