It Happens Again
It was a woman's heart
that was speaking
had been speaking
for ages
It was a woman's heart
that was silent
had been silent
for centuries
And between them was a mountain -
a man or
a rat
that gnawed
even in times of friendship
at the screaming voice
at the silent tongue
from the very first day
This is one of Amrita Bharati’s more explicitly feminist poems, yet the delivery retains her characteristically understated tone. Only ‘screaming’, in the final stanza, and the unsettling image of something gnawing at ‘the silent tongue’, betrays the fury from which this poem is wrought.
We tried out various titles – ‘The Same Thing Again’, ‘It’s Happening Again’ – before deciding on the sense of weariness and repetition in ‘It Happens Again’ (and again).
That Very Same Incident
It was woman's heart
Which was speaking
Kept on speaking
For ages.
It was woman's heart
Which was silent
Stayed silent
For centuries.
And between them there was a mountain
A man
A rat
Which was gnawing
Even in moments of friendship
At the screaming voice
At the silent tongue
From the very first day.