Unsung Heroines
The sun is searing hot Hurling down fierce fuming rays. Earth roasts under his angry gaze As meat over blazing coals. Everything bows in submission Men, birds, beasts, and beetles Trees, shrubs and every blade of grass Droops in defeat and compliance. On this sweltering March noon ablaze Upon a deserted path in defiance , A solitary figure lumbers on. Bent forward with a stern grit, with A double load of wood and flesh, Labouring on, towards The distant din of a village market! Read: Village Boy Impressions - Fathers A mother, with her mewling infant And a hefty load of firewood Trudging to the market To buy salt and pepper That she may feed her family! Her man, probably lounging in a bar Had shoved at her a basket of millet With nothing else for soup. She had gone to the mortar To thresh that millet with sore palms And upon her grinding stone Milled it all into flour. She went to the river with a big po...