I Was His Last Duchess Before…..

Lucrezia de’ Medici by Bronzino or Alessandro Allori, generally believed to be the subject of the poem My Last Duchess : Wikipedia

I am Lucrezia de Medici, a thirteen year old,

You see me hanging in black, red and gold.

It was at this age when my Duke sought my hand,

I was happy, as always, to be his Duchess grand.

When I looked on and my eyes fell on everything,

‘Spots of joy’ surfaced from the depths of my being,

Be it my husband’s presence or an orange sunset,

‘Too soon made glad’ was I; ‘too easily impressed’.

I was aware of the music from my white mule’s hooves,

Yet unknowing of the man eyeing my every move-

Who knew it’s unchaste to have a joy for life?

I wish I had a mindset shift to stay alive-

Though I smiled whenever my Duke passed me,

Alas! I catered such smiles to all and sundry.

I was too naive to perceive this strange life’s demands,

I exceeded the mark perhaps; so he gave commands.

All my ‘smiles stopped’; no ‘trifling’ to ever happen,

To spite a nine hundred year old hallowed family name.

I was his last duchess before another graced his household,

Now I am a work of art in black, red and gold.

Posted for Susan’s prompt Character(s) in Action at What’s Going On Blog

I drew my inspiration from Robert Browning’s Dramatic Monologue  My Last Duchess. The quotes are from My Last Duchess

A Child’s Wish

The Great Banyan Tree at the Botanical Gardens in Howrah

This is my childhood

where I live-

it’s fairly livable

because you have a father

who is the Botanical Garden’s Banyan

always giving you shade-

because you have a mother

who is home,

sweet home to you-

you have a little brother to play with-

you also have a storytelling grandpa

and a pickle expert grandma-

the moon looks like a moon

not like a knight’s buckler-

the hawk-cuckoo sounds like a bird

not like a siren-

and we witness with big open eyes

the birth of a nation;

East Pakistan becoming

Bangladesh-

a Tagore song

becoming their national anthem-

isn’t this world pretty?

I wish to float in this beautiful bubble

of a childhood forever

I hope time will never prick it

sharply-

Posted for my prompt Children at What’s Going On

Fifteen Reasons to Remain Silent

Wikimedia Commons

1) Because my tongue is frozen

around winter hearts-

2) Because I am piecing together the shards

of my mind that was heartbroken-

3) Because I was made to sit on an ebony night astride,

my mouth stitched up with grief-

4) Because I am an open eye looking within-

5) Because I am an ear set to the silence within-

6) Because I am learning stillness-

7) Because I will to take a dip in the ocean of peace

8) so that I unlearn cacophony-

9) so that I pick out a note from a tuneless world-

10) Because I am slowly drifting to a dreamland

where life is a Black Water Pond or a Fall Song

or simply The Journey–

11) Because I am in wait for ages-

12) Because I am athirst for a delight living in words-

13) Because I know you have them-

14) Because I long for those warm, honeyed words

that would melt on my numbed tongue-

15) I’ll remain a prisoner of silence if you are no more you-

Bold words in italics are titles of poems by Mary Oliver

Posted for Mary’s prompt Fifteen Reasons at What’s Going On Blog