The Nautch Girl

The sunlight scrapes its way through the grill

Dusty curtains guard it, with lace and its frills

Window Panes hold itself, just about,

The musty walls stand tall, speak up loud.

It was here that, once did glare

The sparkling candles and the glowy chandelier,

The sounds of music and dancers galore,

Flowers lay strewn on the marble floor.

Glasses and tumblers, with wine overflow

My songs and dances mystified so,

They called me Nautch

I called them debauch

Springs and autumns sped past me,

The evenings sinful to the morning wee.

My 'pretty' self consigned to flame,

I keep waiting for my man, in vain.

The fragrance of flowers would fill

The evenings full of dusky din.

In walked the tall and dark,

Roving eyes, with which I mark

The rich and big, in heart so poor.

Blink my lashes and thus I lure,

To come and sink in me, so fair,

Touch me not, none did dare,

With waving fingers they would drown,

Deep into the nights, the harems frown

They called me Nautch

I called them debauch

Spells of rain, had lashed away

The winds of disdain had its way

There, stands, the epitaph in my name,

I keep waiting , for my man in vain.

The evenings pull its curtain up,

No more sounds weave, weft and warp

The chequered floor sleeps through the dusk,

Like a forgotten bust, covered with dust;

Darkness lights up with shrieks of silence

I fly around through the webs, so dense,

Cling my bangles through times, solitude,

Miss my ‘self’ being, soft and rude,

The sound of beats, are forever gone,

The lust in their eyes, I lost and won

Sweetness of fragrance gave way to damp

None would grope, while I danced the ramp;

They called me Nautch

I called them debauch

Summers and winters for times had come

Burnt and frozen, the ages, wholesome,

The lights would never glow, nor the candles burn,

Broken pieces of glass fill the ground around

I fly in ether, managing my mane,

Lest comes my man, but all in vain.