Halt!

Debahuti Borah

Halt, right there,
From snatching my existence
Made upon wet sands.
Halt, right there,
From making me believe
That I do not belong.
I love her black tresses,
To comb off the stars
That stick to her hair,
Like the sky shooting meteorites.
Halt, right there,
From calling me insane
For I, a woman, loves another woman.
Or do call me insane -
For I wouldn't really care
What you have to tell me
About plenty men in the streets,
While I kiss my woman on the lips
In the streets of Hyderabad in India.
For I wouldn't really care
What words you breathe out,
While I hear poetry from my lover's lips
Everytime she tells me that she loves me.
For I wouldn't care
What of patriarchy and homophobia
Is resounded by science,
While my heart beats in the face of love
In gentle multitudes,
In the afterglow of syrupy tales.
Oh halt, please,
From telling me that I need to look within,
When I have found life
By looking within, and not in tempest.
She said, "Yes"
And I do not wish for the church bells
To chime in unison,
We would rather love to be supported
By people who belong, and believe,
Watching us take vows,
Dressing in your not-so-usual rainbow showers.
So, haters, halt,
Because I say,
I would still kiss her in the streets
Of India, or in Amsterdam, or Ireland,
I would still hold her hands
While walking down the aisle of supporters
Like I would when we are grocery-shopping.
I wouldn't give a damn,
And neither would she,
For we belong, to ourselves,
To each other,
To the community,
To our identity,
To the world,
And your words
Arising out of the pits of denial
Would be something
We wouldn't care about.
So, halt.

 

This work has been published in Beetle Magazine's July 2020 Issue

Illustration by Dhanashree Pimputkar

 


6 comments

  • guZeaVIAPcJzYol

    mDVQJuxil
  • cdPuCltey

    sMhpIHkigmKc
  • Beautiful ❤

    Akshita Agrawal
  • It is just simply love. Fab written

    Monika Kumari
  • Lovely!!

    Sakina Husain
  • Celebration of love in all it’s forms!! Lovely!!

    Priyanka Nath

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