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Poetry

Were I To Be Born To You…

Saurin Desai

I’ll take my first breath and the sound you’ll hear will be a war cry. And I’ll be on my feet before the cord is cut, to slice - with sadness - the first of our links, with a sword made from sunshine. But no matter where I go, the path from me to you will always be a straight line.
I’ll step out in warrior gear since I would have learnt to fight in your womb. And will sculpt an alternative universe with my hands. It will be difficult but not impossible since I would know the solar system like the back of my hands. I hope that’ll make you a proud mother.
And I’ll take life as my sparring partner, so that no matter how hard he’ll hit, he’ll always help me up. Also, I hope your world will have enough sweetness, because I’ll taste a lot of blood and I’ve been told it’s metallic and salty.
Yes, we will miss my birthdays. But then, there are children who do not even know the day of their birth. I’ll celebrate mine with theirs. And I’ll miss those childhood games but will be a grand chess-master by the time children learn to play, so that no one will ever use me as a pawn. And you might miss tucking me into bed and asking me to not be afraid of the monsters that are afraid of the light, but don’t you let that bother you, for I shall be the warrior of light, darkness shall tremble in front of me, and children everywhere will sleep under the stars with their stomachs full and their hearts light.
As for what will I do with my life? Either I will sniff out trouble or trouble will smoke me out. And in the breaks between my battles, I will read and write some poetry, so that I may remember to stay human, for the pain around will spill out by the ocean loads even if I were to take every single hand and stretch it from here to the end of time.
I will think of you every time it rains, outside or inside? And the first time I bleed, I won’t look around for a superman, but I will look for you, supermom, even if for a moment, I promise you. But I know you’ll not be worried cause by then you would have turned into the heart of a tiger. And I won’t apologize to you even though others might feel I have done you wrong, because my eyes will shine, my heart will sing, and my voice will be heard.
Maybe one day I’ll fall in love or maybe I won’t, but there will be no prom night, not in this life, not in our universe. For I will forever sleep with a sword by my side, and I will one day sleep forever by the sword, but you will not shed tears. I may have come in crying, but I will go away laughing and you will bid me farewell with a smile. Yes?
And whenever I am tired or frustrated - or worse—defeated, I will look at the blisters and the bruises, and will thank those who gave them to me, for the scars will be my medals and I’ll wear them with pride.
Till the day will come when I rule this universe and whenever someone will come to me and tell me how great I am, I will stop them and tell them, that if they want to know true greatness, then they truly ought to meet my mother.

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