Heggar by Aleyamma Korah

Aleyamma K M>poems> Heggar

By  the valley of Hebron

From the secluded cave of the Macpela

The guardian of death

Finally makes a retreat.

Before the grave of Sarah

Among  the dancing shadows of the  date palms

I stand alone

The funeral procession from Kirytharba To Memra (Hebron Valley)

Was so poignant to watch

Lyres were singing heart breaking songs

There was Abraham weeping

Isahak the stoic self

Guarded by the people,the janapadhas.

Would he be thinking of Ishmael

His eyes looking for his brother torn away?

Sarah,

When we started from Mishraim

I was just so young

Like a shadow I followed you

Forgetting the house, kin and all .

After the valleys of perfumes

After the never found flowers

I have roamed around gardens

To wrap you up in feminine charms

So intense was the days

The pain was so lingering…

Do you remember the day you came from the house of Pharaohs

So distraught ,your hair dishevelled, dress torn

You were shouting at Abraham

Throwing away the royal gifts

Cursing the beauty that was you

Sarah,

I have loved to tend your babe

And prayed before Jehovah .

In the altars among the perfumes covering up the seat of god

A fertility ritual was offered

Haggar was the offering you made ( To Abraham)

For which my son and me were banished

The first taste of dispossession

A soul mate should not have done.

The day when the breastfeeding of Isaac was over

The oldman came and given bread to is son weeping

And asked us to go away to the endless nights and days of the deserts

From the innards of the courtyard

Sweet lullabies spread its magic halo around

But there were no calls

There were no steps to call us back…

In the berseba desrt

Where it would punch even the last bits of life

Me and my child were roaming seeking mirages

Of nights and days…

In the oasis the last drops were lost

I closed the eyes unable to watch him die

In the oasis in the lap of the small shadows I left him

And wished why god doesn’t send sulphur and thunder to end the world.

Suddenly the desert rend into two

And new springs came up bathing us in the beauty of life and god

From the shores of the death he came out

Shining like a god armoured

It has been years since

The pain has been forgotten

The loss and the gain

The fear and the curse

Only at the moment of death

My sister of love

I have come here alone to offer my homage

In remembrance of what we have loved and lost

Only a moment between you and me

I

Translation >Aleyamma Korah > poems >Bathsheba

Aleyamma K M > poems >Bathsheba

David,

Me , Bathsheba

The beloved wife of Uriah ,the Hithyan

The widow of the slain warrior

You were my fond memories from the childhood

Wasn’t I madly in love with you?

But today I wish not to see your face

The hands that were splattered with the blood of Uriah

Dream of my teens, love of  my tender age

Do you remember the day when you won over the philistine?

We made it big celebrating it with trumpets

Receiving you like an ancient warrior

I danced for you

Coloured in the brightness of the dusk

And enveloped in the soft odours

From the valley of the flowers

But you seem not to have noticed me…

You were forced into exile

You were driven out of the kingdoms

In the depths of the caves where you hid

You wished for soft touch and sweet food

The soft murmurs of all that you loved

The clasp and love of the land you adored.

Suddenly you returned to the land

An emperor in new clothing

A new Jerusalem

Seeking another era.

I have always opened the interiors of my doors

To hear you sing eternal psalms.

When you your lyre pour out

The unnatural softness of the music

When the lead of the choir made

Enchanting music out of you

Like a bird enamoured of the dreams

I stood there mad watching wishing for a glimpse of you

The day you found me

The innate softness of me

The radiance of a falling star

The sudden surge of all that lovingly

I have lost myself in the music of your lyre

The songs have me in a trance

Sudden praise for the deeds of Uriah in the warzone

But you played it hard and soft

In the sweet silent cold nights

We rode over hells of ecstasy and sadness

Forgetting the woman that I was

But suddenly all changed

How could you be so cruel

To one who was all to you

How could you let off the guard

Amd let him be kileed

The man who stood for you night and day

In love and despair?

I have lost my womanliness in the night of such cold betrayal

I have lost love and pleasure in the secret moorings

I have become a ghost bereft of emotions

My body has become a vassal of vice

David,

 I am carrying your child

Which is crying in the depth of the nigt

It may not be able to with stand the pain and the scorn

The fruit of the irreparable sin mocking us

David ,

I cannot even ask you

What am I before you?

But if you are left with a trace of fear or feel of guilt

Sing again

A song for uriah ,a psalm of sorrow

In pristine voice

Unaffected by the highdeciblel play of trumpets or lyre

Sing for uria a song of sadness

A song of deep sorrow

A psalm from the depth of the heart .