DRAUPADI - XIX
I am watched in sleep
guards follow me to the garden
I can't speak my mind, I am a doll
an exhibit on the royal shelf :
See Draupadi! Our
gift of fire
she came a full formed beautiful
package of divine elegance,
a Princess to brighten our Kingdom's future.
My brother too is fire born yet
none speaks of him as some exotic
A spirit in human form or gift of fire.
The brother too exercises his authority
for he is male, he is the Future.
Drupad's memory perpetuator
Inheritor of the King's name and Pride
Draupadi felt dizzy and sank into a chair.
A woman I am hence no freedom
A woman I am hence mindless
A woman I am to follow commands
why don't they acknowledge my being?
My separateness, my free spirit?
I have my own mind and I think but fail,
how can I chose my life mate
from among the Princes or the Prince
who pierces the eye of the fish
tied to a moving wheel
in Sandipani's Radhachakra?
When my choice does not matter
my misgivings should be lost in my smile
I must garland him who wins the test
even if he is cruel, ugly and vain
a man of many women and lustful!
Is marriage a joke for Father
he mirthfully sets the trap to catch
his avenger with me as the bait?
Draupadi stood up in helpless rage
I have no voice, no freedom, no legs,
I have to scale my Reason and blink
at all the glitter of make belief!
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