A strange land it was, for people rose
When the sun had set and was beyond the sight,
And people came in hordes alone,
Strangely they looked aside.
Their glances fluttering downcast
Would then meet peeping eyes from beyond the drapes,
Mute in shame, expectant in desire-
Oh! The world’s a vile place,
And a little pleasure that it affords is for us,
When men great fell, we are but small-
And then the door was closed.
All, after the sun had set.

Then a smile rose in a face
And his hand itched-
I have a stomach, an it’s not my treat-
He waited had restless on the sidewalk
Until the man to him had walked-
O, and isn’t there an expectant woman behind the door?
Poor she is and the world’s a whore.
Wasn’t she raped and you stared in lust?
You shed your clothes as hers was torn.
You smother at night and spit at day-
Wicked you are, and what you say!
And wasn’t it me who fed her as she starved?

And then the sun rose.
The man walked out, eyes downcast, un-fluttering.
And spoke vile with another that came
Through a door on the other side;
The pimp smiled and faded in shadows-
He would come alive again when shadows met.
After sunset.
-4\1\99,Calcutta-63

COMMENTS :

When I said expectant woman it may or may not mean a pregnant woman, but it certainly means that the woman is waiting restlessly behind the drapes- either because she would be paid only if she found employment in the night, or may be because she does love what she does (scientists and prostitutes get paid for doing what they like)- it must be kept in mind that many women choose this profession and many among them do like what they do and may not even accept any alternate mode of income- may be because they are unable to do anything else or because they don’t want to leave what has been their profession for a long time.

Bottom-line is that one shouldn’t detest any form of profession- it is only because there are men in this, what we proudly call, civilized society who find more pleasure in visiting them than those women find in gratifying them (those men) that the pimp survives. Before one spits on them one should remember where he has spent the last night.