Jiyaa Khanna, India

I don't remember the color of your eyes, maa,
but i remember the red poppies you always tucked safely in your braid.
I remember how you would come back home sometimes
with their nectar spewed on your body.
"look, my arms have poppy branches too"
you'd say.

One month after you left me
to go explore the stars,
a foreign man with a foreign tongue
did foreign things to my body.
Maa, it pained and i screamed but even my own
ears couldn't hear my voice.
The same red nectar spilled from between my legs that day.
It reminded me of you.
So i took your embroidery kit
and stitched red poppies on myself.
I too have branches now!

The foreign man with his foreign tongue started bringing his foreign friends too.
They did familiar things to my branches.
But i didn't mind because my branches glistened
in red the next day.
Everywhere they touched me
a branch would be born.
They said before exploiting my land,
they would first exploit my body
but i didn't let them, maa.
I fought.

For every branch they stepped on,
I made another one.
For every flower they crushed,
i gave a brighter colour to the rest.
My body was a battlefield and i fought.
I fought with my little sword and your poppies.
I fought and i fought and i never gave up.
I never gave up, not even once.
The faster their actions got, the quicker my branches took roots.

But, today, it is finally spring.
Today, i can feel you.
I'm red and my flowers have bloomed.
I'm leaking nectar. So much nectar.
Isn't it lovely? i laugh and warm nectar flows from my lips.
Look, my body is blossoming.
Are you looking?

I have become a red poppy myself, maa.
Maybe now you won't ever
want to leave me.
The stars are reaching out to me, did you send them?
I'm coming.
Wait,
I'm on my way.
No one will ever separate us again, i promise.

I know you will be there with our flowers
in your braid soon, maa.
I will memorise the colour of your eyes this time.

Jiyaa is an Indian writer and writing is her way of expressing herself. She has been dabbling in poetry and fiction ever since she was a child and holds great accordance for all forms of art. Other than that, she is an ardent reader and can be caught stating random historical facts, cracking (untimely) jokes or scrolling through dog reels on Instagram when she's not scrawling her heart away.