Sita Scorned

According to the Ramayana,

I was adopted by a loving father-king,

honored, dowried.

Protecting Me as I waxed in beauty,

he decreed no man could have Me

who could not bend My Cosmic Moon-Bow!

Rama, exiled prince, broke the bow and took Me.

(Alexander cut the Knot!)

I saw him wield My unwieldy arrows of energy

in his intrigues and battles, and chaotic vanity.

I was taken by Ram, by strength and deceit,

married, protected, sequestered (in purdah),

then disobedient, exploring.

The story says that I was kidnapped by demons

and taken to Kali's dark moon lands.

Glorious Ram, the hero, made war to rescue Me,

shooting My stolen arrows into the sea

turning My ocean red with man-made blood,

using My crescent rainbow to bridge My ocean!

When he had Me back, he didn't want me.

He said that I, Sita the pure,

the nascent moon, was sullied

by My excursion into darkness!

Distrusted, shamed, betrayed, scorned, outcast,

I was exiled, abandoned big with child, forgotten

by My suspicious, violent husband in his false pride.

It was an exercise in power-over.

Ram never understood.

I don't think he tried to.

I would have taken Ram with Me

to slip into Kali's dark cleft of love,

but he was too full of himself

to fit into the embrace of Mystery.

But Oh! The dream of the loving couple

Sita/Ram, yin/yang, Om!

My crescent arms reach yearning

for that lost dream of shared respect!

Forget the Rama-drama.

I burned away the abusive lie

of Sita/Ram, divine loving couple.

Betrayed, I learned to mend a broken heart.

Mostly it's an ordinary story,

shared by many ordinary women.

© Tamara Rasmussen 2018