She...

She slowly opened her eyes and beheld the world,
Oh! How splendid and bright it is to be alive!
Her father had not wanted the girl,
Her mother had thought the same.
And together they had tried to wipe,
From life’s pages, her name.

But, oh, the poor girl did survive,
As a crippled lame thing,
Escaping death by a whisker,
A heavenly blessing?

She grew up amidst dislike and hate,
She remained unloved, unwanted.
A lonely heart amidst her kin,
A limping servant maid.

“Your birth brought us no joy,
Let your parting, a lakh, pay,”
Her father had fixed a sixty year old groom,
The girl refused, ran away from ‘home’.

A gang of men waylaid her,
She tried to save herself.
Once more the heavens helped,
A bus stopped to take her to town.

There she worked, she earned, she found her lucky dame,
Ability in her disability, won herself a name.
The girl prospered as heavens smiled again,
An honest co-worker married her and wiped away her pain.

But wouldn’t her life been better,
Had there been love, kindness and joy?
Oh mankind, give woman a right to her life,
Give her an identity other than mother, child and wife!