I Have Sucked The Breast Of A Widow Whom You May Call Yasoda Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

I have sucked the breast of a widow
Who lost her husband at the age of nine
And was unable to remember her husband
Who died of typhoid
In the wake of not, a little before
The independence of India.

As my mother used to keep away, I used to live with her
And she used to give her poor and beaten breast to me,
A child-widow, widow of India rearing me
And I grew up under the shade of the sari anchal, border
Of hers,
Reminding me of Yasoda's love for the son of Deviki,
Born to Deviki, but fostered by Yasoda.

Upto class ten, she kept me with and I could not part with,
Call her my mother or my aunt,
But she was a white sari-wearing widow,
A Yasoda, Beena Devi.