Pronounced 'Not Guilty' Poem by PADMINI DUTTA SHARMA

He walked out of the cellar
His eyes distant
He looked tired, pale and thinner.


There had been solicitations, fear and hope
Misgivings, doubt and apprehensions
The dark solitary cell had eaten up his soul
Like termites
Yet they did not relent; they survived.


The judge pronounced “not guilty”
After much ado
He couldn’t face the victim eye to eye
He felt demeaned and his heart did cry.


He headed straight towards that woman
Who stood in a corner in faded attire
Her face beaming, lighted...
Marks of misery etched all over
Her face that used to be so beautiful
When they were together.


Her man was framed for no fault
At midnight he was unwittingly caught
The untoward incident had shaken them up
Poor souls didn’t have any back up.


They questioned and ticked
Inside the cell very hard they kicked
She fought tooth and nail
Running from pillar to post
Without food and water
Petrified by human values
Gone dirty and murky in the gutter.



His parents had thrown her out of the house
Pronouncing her to be unlucky and abused
Her parents showed no mercy at all
They thought her man was a fake call
They urged her to leave the culprit
Turn her back on him and coolly shift
Neighbors and friends tried to woo with cash and kind
Lawyers wanted to sleep with her and bind
His mother had questions at the back of her mind
His love fought all alone from behind.


His parents now moved up to greet him
Eager to take him back home
They had by then changed their mind
Thinking their son a golden goose
As reporters and journalists thronged him
Eager for an exclusive theme
Bored and not too keen to answer
He arrogantly asked them to quit.


He was already making headlines
He was making news
That spoke of his achievements
He was flooded with offers
In a position to dictate terms
But he just wanted to breathe free
Bathe and sleep in her arms.


He ignored their advances
And in a slow pace came straight to her.
It was this faith that held them together
Despite the moody and the temperamental weather
This was something they always felt
And so now before her he knelt
She held out her arm
And as he raised
Their embrace was like a marvelous sketch.