I was reading Manu Joseph's Serious Men and this poem is inspired by the scientist Arvind Acharya who had fallen from grace after his lofty ideas about extra-terrestrial life went awry.

IN DISGRACE

The arrow left

the bowstring, taut,

But defied the law

and went askew.

Vile creatures,

Stormed my shrine,

Once a fortress

Held by science supreme.

The wrinkled skin,

of my senile self,

Sagged in a trice

Crushed by infamy.

I waited in vain

for the fires to abate.

But my boat had sunk

and the vigour had died.

A woman might be goddess or a less fascinating home-maker. But, are their worlds ultimately the same?

The Goddess’s Revenge

Lofty thoughts cloud my dreams,

Yet when I’m conscious

They slip my hold.

My palsied arms

Quiver further

When I dare to breathe

Life to my dreams.

Despite a goddess,

The fetters of my class remain.

I snooped around the hall-

An assembly of the male pantheon-

To hear voices cloaked by pride, declare,

‘Let us trample

The puny mortals,

Unleash war and anarchy

Famine and flood.

Let them submit,

Cower in fear

Bow and pray

And cry till their hearts see no light.’

I glanced at the scabbard,

Its glint now heightened.

Determined to kill,

I trudged towards the Hall

Rage frothing, pace quickening,

I finally unveiled the forgotten sword.