DRAUPADI - 57

  

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty's 

DRAUPADI - 57

 Kunti sat on the bed holding

an inert Draupadi in her chest

kissing her as woman mother

wiping away her tears consoling

her, calming her wounded soul.

Kunti caressed her hair

the dishevelled mess trying

to bring some order, saw

the nail marks of Dusassana

on the nape of her neck arms -

Let go mother let my hair

tease the air when I walk

taunt the water when I bathe

rise like snakes hissing at the sun

moon stars and all luminaries

their silence is culpable Mother.

Come out of it my child

think of life ahead, don't get stuck

this unfortunate thing should not

block your revealing time,

I know mother I have to overcome

my own self rejection the wound is raw

time will heal it but leave a blot behind

to remind me of injustice

done to me, a terrible disaster

that can befall a woman,

Kunti held her again,

patted her back.

Try to sleep Draupadi just try

I know sleep will play truant

with people stung by the other face

of justice black and ugly.

 

Meantime Yudhistira played again

when invited by Duryodhana to gain back

his losses, the passion to win was fanned 

by Shakuni's jibes and lure of the dice:

When disasters do not alert the wise

the wise indulge in precipitous action

inviting ruin of home hearth and name.

Yudhistira relived the shame of loss,

Fate's peripatetic motion exiled

him and his family to forest life

for thirteen years the last being

incognito in any kingdom if caught

he would be condemned to another

thirteen years of forest life, Yudhistira

choicelessely accepted his self invited

misfortune on himself and the Pandavas.

 

When Draupadi heard about this

she simply held her breath a moment

a ghost of an inscrutable grin

in her darkened face appeared

before she realised it melted away

in the summer of her face.