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THE GREEN WOMAN by Shernaz Wadia

Trees and I have had a love affair from the time I was a kid...

They are my friends. And when a friend is decimated while you remain a mute spectator, no torrents of tears can wash off the guilt-stricken grief. But, after two days of fuming anguish, healing came in an unexpected mizzle of grace!!

The Green Woman*
by Shernaz Wadia

sharp cracks as they tore your limbs asunder
thwack, thwack, thwack as you were mutilated

axed bits and pieces of you visual shrieks, as
they became the jerry-rigged shroud

vainly cloaking your naked vulnerability
 each assault on you a hammer blow on my heart

petrified with pain and anger I chose silence
and became  the more sinful partner in the crime

that brought about  your excruciating end. Woe is me!
Would that I were not so cowardly!  Though the aftermath

was a macabre hush I now feel your spirit floating
with feathery non-chalance in a spiral of love

it wafts in with the tingling breath of forgiveness
my heart explodes with compassionate Love

my spirit awakens...with new eyes I look around me
the other trees shudder no more and joyous birds return


*According to mythology a Green Woman is a wood-spirit known to possess the secrets of herbal medicine. Writing about these spirits John Matthews says, “they appear frequently (in folklore) as gentle spirits of trees and woodland, dressed in leaves, their flowing hair contrasting with their wizened faces.”


Shernaz Wadia is a retired primary school teacher, and lives in Pune, India. Her articles, short stories and poems have been widely published in web journals and anthologies. She has published ‘Whispers of the Soul’, a collection of poems and “Tapestry Poetry” – a genre of poetry, developed by her and Israeli poet Avril Meallem. More about this form can be read here.  









~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~
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  1. AnonymousJuly 5, 2016 at 6:16 AM

    'Would that I were not so cowardly"... so true. Another lovely poem from you Shernaz. Best wishes.

    ReplyDelete

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