Portrait Painting – Haunted by Paul Lovering

When you come back Beloveds,
to haunt us,
come with your flesh torn off,
your blood-drawn scars aglow,
ready to hatch like incubated eggs
into restless speech;
assert your shame with pride
(for girls have always been taught
to make the best of whatever
is given them) and stretch
your crushed, soiled limbs like
ecstasies forbidden before.

And when you move through minds,
streets, newspapers, courtrooms, dreams
remember to laugh right on your faces
(you are too well-brought up, I know,
to curse, or spit, to express, to expound).
But laugh you must.
For we sleep heavy,
and hard.

Basudhara Roy (Ph.D.) is Assistant Professor of English at Karim City College, Jamshedpur. Her areas of academic interest are diaspora theory, postmodern criticism and cultural studies. As a creative writer, she has been published in magazines such as Muse India, Rupkatha, The Volcano, The Challenge, I-mantra, Cerebration, Das Literarisch, Gnosis, Daath Voyage and on the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival Blog. Email: [email protected]