Alka Balain
Once, a single flower offered itself,
awakening shakti, summoning the soul home.
Near the anar tree, a rock she once
worshipped before leaving for work.
Its chunni, threadbare, riddled with holes.
Dust-covered shakti sits all alone.
Only when the sky opens and pours
is her weight briefly lifted.
No one offers bananas, chrysanthemums.
Diya is empty. Censer, broken in two.
Grihalakshmi has left. Guests come and go.
The abandoned temple lies in quiet ruin.
Why can’t men hold spiritual ritual?
The house is being renovated.
On my temporary visit home,
I climbed the stairs.
My canvases were blanketed in dust,
the terrace unswept, the solar tank still dripping.
Unsupervised, uncared,
a house falls to shambles.
Why do women consider leaving marriages,
after years of devotion to a rock?
anar: pomegranate: symbolises Divine love (The Mother, Mirra Alfassa)
Grihalakshmi: Goddess of the home