Have you seen my soul?

The entire pain converged

In the ambit of my throbbing temples

As the sun shone directly

On the worrisome parallel in between

My eyes opened to the pressure

And I thought so lifting the weight

Why they should be called eye-‘lids,’

But someone said they are petals- rose petals...

But someone is a liar

I feel the heat

And the perspiration

Ugh! I feel dirty

I want to shed my skin,

No! Deeper down...

My body

For I hate it

I am pulling at the remains of my clothes,

My disheveled hair

When a voice interrupts-

“Where have you come from?”

“What are you doing here?”

I think I’m searching...I think

I look away

I am tired

For I can see

The conversation dying-

To the din

To deaf ears...

She throws me a used clothing

To cover my torn one

Yes, it is in shreds

And so is my body

And my little insignificant heart...

The crowd is thickening

And so is the heat

Of stares,

Of leers,

Of apathy

Ugh! I curl, feel dirtier

And I wish I could change

No, not just my clothes

Something deeper...my body

Please, I silently plead

Take it away, take it away

I hate it...my body

For it stinks of dead flesh

Desecrated

Demolished

Destroyed

By animals, mongrels

Blinfolded in slimy lecherousness

The voice is louder-

“Who are you?”

“Where do you belong?”

I mumble...I find words

“No...nowhere...”

And I ask, who am I?

A woman, a human?

No...no, I am a body, just a body...

For I come from a land

Where I am known not beyond my body,

My soul-less body...

I look up to the sky,

Hoping, still believing,

In the existence of a formless God

And ask, in sheer innocence of insane sorrow

“Tell me-

Have you seen my soul, a woman’s lost soul?”