The village woman after the seven rounds <br />Around the sacred fire <br />And vermillion put into the parting line of the hair, <br />Clicking it not the name of her husband, <br />The head lowered under a veil <br />And shied away from the world. <br /> <br />Backward, poor and illiterate, <br />Reared in an orthodox and conservative society, <br />Quite traditional enough, <br />She cannot cross the Lakshmanrekha, <br />Lakshaman-drawn home periphery <br />Of the courtyard <br />Even though a sadhu comes to seek for the alms <br />As who may know his disguise and purpose of silent visit? <br /> <br />She cannot take the name of her husband <br />As it will be sinful <br />To take the name, <br />A Sita-Sati-Savitri, <br />Just under the veil, <br />A little bit of the sari border over her head <br />She continues with her feminine get-up. <br /> <br />Only the tattoo on the hand saying the name of the husband <br />Or her name, <br />She will not speak it herself <br />The name of her owner of the household <br />As the husband is a god of some kind <br />And it is not good to take the name of the husband, <br />Which will be bad for her to take <br />As it may lessen his life-span.<br /><br />Bijay Kant Dubey<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/just-the-tattoo-telling-the-name-of-the-nameless-woman/
