‘She is Not a Duchess’ by Abu Sufian

Here in the closet, this picture evokes attention
Of many who come to my house;
Not mine actually–a gift from God;
However, don’t be so cynical! Please!
Have some patience, I will indeed
Talk about her in a while
After the coffee is being served.

Look at the wonderful aura of her,
That is her smile, gazing at my eyes,
Face to face—a closer moment of love,
Like you, me too was mesmerized by this
Enthralling smile of her—the divine gesture,
But the smile, now and then, pleases many
—many of whom she doesn’t even know much.
No, I’m not saying, ‘it was exactly the same,
But with little difference—perhaps the width of a hair.’

Okay, let’s move to my reading room,
Half of the coffee we will drink there,
After finishing smile-talk,
And no worry about the script,
I’m almost done, you will get it in the weekend.

See! here is another one,
Her being emotional so passionately,
Don’t be so enthusiastic, that passion
Is not for me alone, the emotion is her natural possession,
Like her smile and kind heart.

Oh! You know about the poem ‘My Last Duchess’?
Then there is a deeper way you can feel about my words,
Browning must be a sculpture of words.

But in her case, I must say:
‘Without a dictatorial Duke—
Without the claim of a throne—
Or the title of Duchess,
She resonates with the heart of the Duchess,
Fortunately or unfortunately or by the sheer chance of her destiny.
Trust me, her heart aches for me,
For real, and without a shred of doubt;
But her heartbeat doesn’t stop here,
She has a heart that aches for anyone and everyone,
Anything—animated, inanimate, living or dead,
Her heart aches for the homeless boy in the street,
For a super-rich businessman without a loving girlfriend,
For a girlfriend without a loving man,
For a hungry cat at her abode,
For her daughter missing a school homework,
For a husband being intentionally alone,
For the believer with no faith in true God,
For the atheists with no faith in supernatural authority,
For the agnostics relying too much on evidence.

Yes! No some bad habits,
Actually it’s okay to have such a heart,
Till you know that there was no limit to her
Unconstrained and boundless love for everything;
At times, she mourns for the solitary death of an oppressive dictator,
She sympathizes for a man taunting and psychologically crippling his wife in cold blood,
For a friend abusing her for what she believes,
For a dogmatic person scolding her for expressing her opinions,
For a lecherous man, approaching her aggressively,
For a criminal about to rob her house,
For a pretentious lover, playing with her emotion for decades.

No. No. No.
Her soul is not an evil one,
Neither is she a bad person,
It is just the way she is,
And her kindness spreads its light,
And this has made the difference in her life,
This has made her feel sufferings and melancholy without an end,
And she is being left in utter grief,
Without being able to dislike disgusting people,
Without the ability to hate the devil,
Without the audacity to dispose disposable emotions.

Hers has a heart—
Blessed and cursed at the same time,
Equally passionate about the malevolence and goodness,
Completely dismissive of the existence of evil,
With boundless desires for immortal emotions,
Without accepting that this life is a tragedy,
And we are all going to plunge into it, today or tomorrow.

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