The man undressed

Come let me shave your beard
Alumwash the cuts and burns
Let us watch together
The white and black
Children of your chin...
Run down the local drain
Merge with memory of pain.


Come let me undo that saffron turban
That sacred thread snaking around
Your fair fat body arrogant
Remembrance of a quiet boy
Initiated into top class convoy.
And wipe off the sandalwood paste
Your believer's forehead in haste.


Let us fold aside the skull cap that sat
Snug on your namazi head
While the sun burns uniform your face
Blackened brows now mere history
The pride of grinding it five times on the floor
That you wore so well, no more.


Instead let me clothe you naked
And play a game of 'guess who'
Or let us just go as we like
Undressing the raw man that lurked
Behind the fez and the turban.
For we are all going to die one day
It makes sense to live today.

 © Sudeshna Sanyal