Page 48 - GEMS1

A Child Wedding

It's The ceremony was on,
overseen by a priest and village hanger-ons,
of a marriage fixed and soon to be performed.

Drums beat and trumpets blew,
and amidst it all, she sat to little clue,
Innocent to her fate, oblivious to a call.

A gift given, promise taken,
mesmerized by a toy,
that shiny little ball,
holding her in a truly magical thrall.

How would the little one even have known,
she was being forsaken
by those whom she must have
thought to be her very own.

Meera Bai

Neither elephants, kingdom, wealth or name,
Nor chariots, horses, power or fame,

Could hold her in thrall or in bind,
Devotee she was, of a different kind,

Out of her mind, chanted voices unkind,
As she set forth, leaving it all behind,

Intoxicated in love, her lover divine,
A search fructified, a soul dissolved,
to an union sublime!

@ Prakash Nagarajan

46 | Dr. K.C. Sethi & Sunita Sethi