THE FIRST KISS

“It is a girl,” shouted the nurse peeping from the door of the bedroom

 In helter skelter haste ran the brother and sister duo, faces abloom.

Peering at the tiny bundle  on  the bed, their small faces lined in dread.

,It was  hardly breathing- was the child dead?

Their father stood next to the bed, in thought deep

 While the mother lay on the bed in deep sleep.

An old neighbourhood hag hobbled into the house, face wreathed in a scowl

Up to the bed she tottered, on seeing the tiny bundle, her mood turned foul.

“What another daughter? She is such an ugly duckling.

Do not worry, she will not live”, she delivered this verdict  chuckling.

“Look at her complexion, she is dark as sin, -this girl!”

On hearing these words, the man’s lips did curl.

“Sin has no colour, black or white, sin is sin.

For me, you are THE sin, now don’t you create a din

 Who has given you the right to say such things about my daughter?”

 In giant steps two, he rushed up to her, by her sari paloo caught her.

“You were also born a girl, did your parents pray that you should die

The gates are open, out you go, yes goodbye.”

Then he scooped the bundle in his arms ,  on her forehead   planted a kiss

This kiss following the venomous hiss filled the  room with utter bliss.

No, this first kiss did not change the ugly duckling into a swan

In the light of a new dawn, a girl child was reborn.

 With this kiss of life sublime

 A love rhyme

 Was created

 And a dying girl was rejuvenated.

Outside the room, the loving sun kissed the sleeping earth

The birds chirped, the trees rustled, applauding this magical rebirth.

 My dad told me years later, while on his lap I rocked

 How he had reprimanded the old woman, and how she had baulked.

 With that first loving kiss, a successful snook he had cocked.

 While the old woman had quaked with tremors wild

His kiss had infused life into an almost dead girl child.

”How could I hear anyone calling you an ugly duckling, "

He had remarked, naughtily chuckling.

“And yes, you are my magpie robin”,

Not an ugly duckling, he had added with a   grin.