DAPHNE by Tapti Bose (India, 45)

I was the river god’s daughter,
And a daughter is nothing more than
a blank page after all,
waiting to be written.
When Apollo was my pursuer
my father,
transformed me to
a laurel tree.
It did make great poetry
of course;
and there was justice too
in the sense of order
or what they call balance,
a cleverness;

Apollo was still God,
my body was
not mine
but it didn’t matter;
a woman I was
unarmed,
put in place;
my father needed
the memory of me,
still virginal.

I was the river god’s daughter
And a daughter is nothing more than
a blank page after all.
My father
had finally written
my life story,
without violence
that did not mean peace
but silence
a laurel tree,
without a tongue.




​Tapti Bose ( 45)  is a writer based in Kolkata , India . Her poetry and short fiction  have  been published at  Women's Web , Gulmohur Quarterly , Kitaab International , Indian Periodical  and Live Wire .  Twitter/ X : @tapti_bose.