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The Scarlet Letter

A historical ballad that reeks of deceit and treachery, by Basudeb, exclusively for Different Truths.

Dimmesdale of the past,
who was a ruler, a Puritan Minister,
A mastermind of treachery,
Status consciousness and hypocrisy,
Dimmesdale is in the present,
He is in our society,
With a fascinating mask of conquest,
And acceptable to the social elitist.

He fathered a baby, Pearl, an illegitimate child,
He was an emblem of ‘human frailty’ ,
And perennial sorrow, pale and pensive,
He did a sin for his inability to confess,
What he did, nobody knew who was Pearl’s father,
Dimmesdale suffered secretly for his mind lusty,
He couldn’t acknowledge his sinful deed,
In his inner mind he silently bleed.

My heartthrob, you definitely find,
Hester Prynne carries a letter ‘A’ on her breast,
Signifying her adultery, later she is an Angel,
Pearl is a symbol of life’s wisdom and jewel,
They are victims and Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy,
He is seemingly a man of religiosity,
From the very ancient time he plays trickery,
Society till date cannot unmask his reality.

Austerity is a manifestation of every religion,
Religion pretentiously preaches its voice clarion,
They say man’s deliverance only in renunciation,
They practise what they do not profess in public,
The medieval time still lingers in modern age ,
Hester Prynne is burnt in shame.
The belly of the lady looks like the rising sun,
Our hope is that a baby will be born soon.

Photo from the Internet

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Basudeb Chakraborti

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