BREAK FREE

Sitting in their favorite restaurant,

He began to glance across

His eyes were not eager

Like the time it was when he had met her for the first time.

He had decided to ​​spill it out to her

That she didn’t mean anything now

Their marriage was just a formality

And for no reason, he wanted to give her undue security.

He had met someone pretty and nice

She was all that he had dreamt of

Slender, sleek and bright

When he was lost in his thoughts

She arrived with her electrifying smile.

He chose to look away

But he couldn’t.

There was something in her that he knew.

But he was strong and had made up his mind.

He looked at her without uttering a word.

She also responded with silence.

What has happened to her? He thought

That bubbly vivacious girl he met years ago

Had turned into a quiet and silent woman

He looked at her messy frizzy hair

The simple kurta she had clad.

Her bulging stomach and sagging breasts

Her skin had turned pale

Her lips and fingernails were colourless.

The deer like hips had gone out of shape.

He was filled with remorse and felt she was not a good fit.

Making up his mind to break the news he opened his mouth

That’s when she said,

Don’t look at me like that.

The hair that you frown upon

Is the same hair that I was born with

It had changed its texture for your sake

But can you or I change its nature?

The bulging stomach was a blessed womb for our lovely kids

The hips that you complain about are the result of my lack of time.

She meddled with her broken fingernails

And reminded him of the vessels she scrubbed day and night.

Wiping tears from her eyes

She spoke her heart out.

She said she could have still been slender and sleek

If he could take time out from his work

And giving her a break from her chores

She reminded him that,

The broken fingernails would heal

And colourless lips would glow,

If only in household matters

His interest would show.

She then proclaimed boldly

That she was once his backbone

When her own spine was hurt and bent

She cheered for him

When not even his own had dared to clap

She reminded him of the days when

They stood staring at the night sky

Making promises never to drift away.

She said, Alas! It is too late!

I have made up my mind.

My mind to set free

To discover the real, me

I want to live life, she declared

Because with you, I was merely existing

But now my heart insists

To break off and walk free

Saying this she strode away mightily

He stood speechless as he realized

That he had lost something priceless.