My Love, My Freedom_ G N Saibaba; Poem From Prison

My Love, My Freedom

My love,
These insults, censures, rumours,
oppression, tearing pain and tears__
endure a little longer.

I know how free your mind
and burdenless your thoughts
were before this shadow of tyranny took us over.

I know how you wear freedom
on your blackish eye-lashes and pride
on your lovely eye-brows.

We will have a life ahead
before which you can forgive me
for dragging you into this shadow.

First they came to steal our freedom;
then they came to rob us of our courage.

We are made helpless,
our emotions shackled,
love imprisoned, thoughts fettered,
and our words chained;
our language is stolen away from us.

In this pain of separation
and shackled existence,
I feel the sounds of your helpless
heaving heart.

Have a little patience;
our courage alone keeps us alive
to a bright breaking dawn.

My love, my freedom,
raise the burning torch
in your hand a little higher.

G N Saibaba
2nd January 2018
(Written to A S Vasantha Kumari)