ALL BECAUSE OF YOU

“You call this poetry, you stupid girl!”
In contempt utter, her lip did curl.
From the ground, I picked up the shreds of my dream.
In my heart, a pain extreme.

With hunched shoulders, out of the room, I plodded
Still standing in the principal’s chamber, I could not have afforded.
Deep in the recesses of my heart, my yearnings I hid
To all vestiges of poetry, a sad adieu, I bid.

Yet, in the classroom, surreptitiously, I wrote
Within the pages of my notebook, hiding many a poetic note.
“You are no good”, said my professor father, reading what I wrote
“Get a reality check girl”, he said, and I quote.

But the poet inside me was not too keen to sing a requiem
To a poetic yearning and a quashed dream.
So in silent stealth many limericks I penned and some parodies too.
The doggerel that I wrote was quite funny, but I became a poet all because of you.

The dormant fire in me poetically burned
At night, when on my bed I turned.
Now the shy moon became a bashful bride
When it sailed in view on a cloud astride.
All because of you.

The poet inside was into action galvanized
No longer content with lying disguised
No longer the poet meek
Could remain quiescent at the sight of a forest beside a creek.
And, believe me, it was all because of you.

The rumbling crescendo of the cricket
In the thicket
Gave words to my poetic inclination
And now in full throttle was the poetic verbalization.
All because of you.

Indeed, not falling to your bait was quite tough
Yes, you are the villain of the piece, REJECTED STUFF
Believe it or not, in congenial circumstances or adverse
All because of you I have turned from verse to worse.