If mothers, have daughters, mothers can’t sleep
Sometimes the nights are spent in pleasant conversations with them,
Sometimes during the midnight,
Heating bottles of water,
Sometimes making cinnamon and fennel teas,
Sometimes putting oil in their heads,
Sometimes heating milk for their studying daughters.
If they have daughters, mothers can’t sleep.
They take walks in the courtyard, sometimes fighting with their friends,
Mothers lose sleep.
The doll wrapped in colorful frocks becomes the same size as the mother.
And every time the mother complains to the tailor that the shirt is too short.
Old sarees become long frocks.
Twenty-year-old dupattas with ruffled edges are worn again.
When mothers have daughters, mothers cannot sleep.
Whispers increase in the corners of the mouth.
Mother’s red lipstick and mascara wear off in days.
Now mothers start sweating every time they buy something from the shopkeeper.
They have to squint their eyes while explaining the measurements to the tailor.
They have to convince their husbands to spend extra money.
A twig that a bird makes a nest for
The mothers of daughters make dowry.
When mothers have daughters, mothers cannot sleep.
They say they will take their medicine again and form committees.
They avoid their husbands’ taunts by saying nothing.
Daughters who are like vines that grow taller than the wall.
If they find a shady tree,
they spend their nights in charity.
They squeeze all the flowers of their youth and
make perfume for their daughters.
But these daughters…
Mothers can’t sleep when they give birth
Mothers can’t breathe when they leave
