Ahalya The Winner Poem by Namita Rani Panda

AHALYA THE WINNER
Is being beautiful my sin?
Is being tricked and seduced my fault?
Cursed I am for no fault of mine
mercilessly reduced to a lifeless stone!
And years after years
while waiting for redemption
every loving word of yours
kept ringing in my ears.
You used to say
taking my hand in yours,
'I love you the most,
I love to lose my way
in your beautiful heart
inhaling its sweet scent.

You are unique; believe me
there is something in you;
falsely I never praise you.
You are a burning beauty
like a star at night.'
And delightedly I delved deeper
into your ocean of love.

But at an instant they turned into a curse
and you being a pious ascetic
showered your fiery temper.
Lying as a lifeless stone
I searched every nook and corner
like a musk deer;
but like a thirsty traveller in the desert
found nothing but mirage.

Is there anything in me
or just flattery and hypocrisy?
I laughed at my own self:
So gullible I was!
A victim of one's trickery
and cheated and cursed by my loved one
to a life of untold misery.

Once the archetype of chastity
reduced to a worthless stone for infidelity!
The long tormenting confinement
made me bolder and stronger,
physical beauty I craved no longer.

Though a piece of stone I was
I had a heart full of hope
love, life and regret.
Undauntedly I bore your curse.

But you stone hearted Gautama!
You lost my heart for ever;
you lost the battle you had won.
Didn't you lose your love?
Didn't you lose your life?
You lived the rest of your life
with a lifeless stone heart-
a living dead you are!

So, I the Ahalya announce today
' I am the winner
and you the Gautama-
the greatest loser forever! '
*(c) Namita Rani Panda
10/02/2017