the sacred turmeric thread

The turmeric thread, the streak of blazing fire;

What a woman upholds more precious than her own life;

That string of chastity as strung to her breath, her being;

Who would step into that altar of fire;

That which would annihilate, the one to defile?

This chastity, every woman beholds for her man;

Is not a weakling’s whimper,

To seek a saviour or a protector;

Nor is it the sanctum of Faith,

To bless the devout, the follower;

The chaste are not the clichéd custodians

Of the bound, the binding, the bonded;

For the wayward, wanderers

Nor are they the guarded armours

For the flings of the fateful

They seek as much as they give;

Beyond the knotted turmeric thread;

To be held with the same solemn promise;

Being the sole, a man to hold his’ alone;

In that seeking, to unite as one;

Is it unbecoming, for a man from a male, to be borne?