Let them dance in Laal
In my country women are defined As pure, divine and safe Only when draped in red.
A stream of tears flows down my cheek When I behold most widows— They’ve lost their laal, The secret blush of married life.
I weep in corners When I see bare foreheads— No vermilion, No laal sari, No laal smile blooming on lips— A life without body, without soul.
If laal indicates danger, why not the rose? If laal in traffic means stop, why not love?
Shall widows not feel laal? Shall they not wear laal? Shall they not sit beside another Wrapped in laal?
A world beyond laal is colourless. Let them dance in laal, hara, peela and all.
Nayanjyoti Baruah
Nayanjyoti Baruah is a poet from Assam, India. His poems have been appeared in national and international magazines and journals such as Rasa Literary Review, One Black Boy Like That Review, The Journal of Undiscovered Poets, Libretto Magazine, Otherwise Engaged journal, The Fiction Project, A Too Powerful Word, Necro Magazine, Open Door Magazine, The Chakkar Journal, The Defuncted Journal etc.