9/4/10

Love Between The Castes
By Dixa


Love between the castes

He.

Tall, majestic, powerful, rich.

She.

Tall, smart, beautiful, shy.

He teaches, he commands, he rules.

She works, she serves, she listens.

They meet—

teacher, student.

landlord, tenant.

speaker, listener.

A man of books, a woman of crafts.

He teaches her brothers, but they are untouched—they are not worthy.

She sews him dresses, but never looks at him—she is not lucky.

He speaks of scriptures, religion, of sins.

She asks for forgiveness, stoops and bends, thanks and prays.

He is young.

She is young.

They are young, and beautiful, and in love—with each other.



They are in love—

-- love—the forbidden fruit—

-- the forbidden fruit that cannot be shared.

Because

he is learned,

she serves. Him.

Because

she cannot be touched—dirty

he must not be touched— lofty.

But they touch. And the world sees—the world sees the touch, and the fruit--

--the fruit they ate, and the fruit they bore.



He is promptly wed,

and fruitful again.

She is chased, chastised.

uprooted, shred into pieces

and burnt like firewood, while men bask in the warmth

of her burning soul.


- - -
College graduate often too afraid to publish my work, but this time I got over my fear. Yay :)

And this work is loosely based on the lives of people in South Asia, where the caste system is still pretty strong :(