MY FRIEND, THE BAT(D) WOMAN

once at home

I had occasion to hit at a bat

Which was flying about in the night

Drinking  honey from

The plantains in the yard

With a stick that was in my hand

And it fell down,

It’s wings bruised

And screeching in a strange voice.

This grimacing face

Which made such an impression

In the movies

That it made your blood curdle,

This tiny little face

Wincing in pain and humiliation

And made out to be a lesser being

And such a terror,

To be somehow disabled and deficient

Because

She didn’t properly belong

To one fold or the other

Neither animal nor bird

And made ominous by virtue of a story that

They had tied up to her absent tail.

These accursed birds clinging with their heads down

To whom no Rama would allow his place

This flock of spirits

That had clung to god

Even in their direst moments

Accused and abused by the world

As many a prophet was

Made out to be a criminal

Without a crime

Another being altogether

Travelling in the darkness

Without the empty fears that

Hound the faithless

One with a radar to navigate with

In the toughest of environs

And god’s compass

To guide it everywhere

And was not averse

To travel with the flock

Almost imperceptible  among them

And deeply connected

A being from a far off time

Even before men were around

An early visitor

And a late sleeper

A lazy one who spent his daytime sleeping

Modest, even indistinguishable

But unique, nevertheless

With transparent wings

Claws and mustache

And a formidable otherness

Which had to be reckoned with

A bats-man from the guava thickets

One connected to the primordial darkness

That had clung to god

And was spread over the depths

Even before the coming

Of  light.

From his mental frequencies

Came another music

A call and reply

That those tuned in could well listen to

A cry for an open world

Where beings don’t fight amongst them

But give care and love

To a world

That was upside down,

No more letting it

To remain that way

It didn’t drop a feather

For your majesties crown

And with sharp teeth

Cut through the twine

That bound the world to unfreedom

And tried to tether it that way.