Ancient Mother Mine:Shiva Ingole

Shiva Ingole

Ancient Mother Mine

None but I

Have tattooed songs of liberty

On the bare torsos

And planted drums of defiance

On the lips

Of womenfolk here.

From then on, my ancient mother

Conceives not the progeny

Of the sun and the moon.

At such a juncture

Even the aged cows

Are not sold to the butcher

But here-

In the polluted atmosphere

Of vedantic wrangling

All Draupdis are

Auctioned in the bazaar

And

I run a school for bastardized mothers and sisters

Since then, my ancient mother

Scrapes together

Rags of freedom

To cover

Her naked bosom.

Translated by H.V.Shintre