"Ghazal for My Feet" by Bharti Bansal

Ghazal for My Feet

Long gone are days of walking
The moon stalks, whispering of the holiness of such coward feet

You ask if I were my mother's mother instead
What might I offer the tender ground beneath my undesired feet

I tell you of the scalding water and bitter eyes
I will drop my destiny like a coin into the bowl of tired feet

Womanhood, you laugh, is a sickle drawn to the throat
I will run away from it all, my wired feet

Who have I become?
My mother never let me walk without her hand in mine
There is no return from this guilt of running on uninspired feet

You say motherhood is sacrifice
My mother, with her blistered love, taught herself to move on unadmired feet

If I were my mother's mother, I’d let her be a man
Silencing anyone who dared speak a truth about these retired feet

My mother, like sunflowers, her shadow always behind my body
What else can I give but light trampled by the memory of these acquired feet

She says, "Love, you have a lot of words to give."
But isn't it a prison, mother, to be your period of grief —
A daughter running with starving, homeless, dire feet

BhartI Bansal

Bharti is a poet from India.

Headshot: Bharti Bansal

Photo Credit: Staff