Shards

By Spurti Aluru

Mirror, Mirror on the wall,

who’s the fairest of them all?

With glass-carved heels,

and brass-engraved rings,

With locks of flaxen appeal

and bushed apples of waxen things,

Three precious desires to wish

Rub the lamp, buy the goldfish

But the sea is not for sale

Her azure depth is not a ruse 

She’s not something you can just veil

Her vortex of beauty is not to amuse 

Is that something you can’t believe?

That under the disguise 

She hides valleys of valour and peaks of strength

Why should she be allowed to wield a shield

only but when the pink petticoats she’s forced to own

are replaced with armours of gold.

Why should her tress of waves first be tamed?

“We won’t be subdued, We won’t be contained!”

Hear the echoes of her turbulent tide

“We have every ounce of heart to match your stride.”

By Spurti Aluru