Female ghost in the moonlight

by Raj Arumugam

OOOOhhhh…..eeeeee…..oooeeeeeyoooo….
O moon, pale and alone
like me
O inhabitant in deserted skies
as I in lonely wilds
with my ghost baby;
let us put a charm together
a curse on men who betray their wives
and who put their seeds in young unwise girls
and run away
and hint the naive could kill themselves and their babies
OOOOhhhh…..eeeeee…..oooeeeeeyoooo….
O moon, pale and alone
listen to my tale:
a charmer
dazzled my mind
and put his seeds in my womb;
and he told me he loved me
but he had other duties
and he said I should be ashamed
for being such a loose woman
and I should kill myself
and so take my baby within me
OOOOhhhh…..eeeeee…..oooeeeeeyoooo….
O moon, pale and alone
feel the pain and horror in my mind
as I am doomed to deliver this script
night and night in this wilderness
Behold this infant I hold in my hand
this ghost of a baby
that has never seen life
sucking at my milk-less white breast
OOOOhhhh…..eeeeee…..oooeeeeeyoooo….
O moon, pale and alone
come, let us put a charm together
a curse on men who betray their wives
and who put their seeds in unwise girls
and run away
and hint the naive kill themselves and their babies
OOOOhhhh…..eeeeee…..oooeeeeeyoooo….
O moon, lend me your strength and power
let us weave a curse, let us cast it over such he-devils:
May their genitals rot
eaten by vermin;
may their eyes be eaten by giant flies;
and may their evil turn
into sharp-teethed ravenous worms
and stampede inside their bodies
and eat all their internal organs
and may these huge-bellied worms
eat every nerve and eat their brains part by part
O may such men die in pain, in madness
before their very wives
Lend me your power
lend me strength
and curse with me
O moon, pale and alone
like me
inhabitant in deserted skies
as I in lonely wilds
with my ghostly baby
that has never seen life
OOOOhhhh…..eeeeee…..oooeeeeeyoooo….

From: 
a tale from ages past; poem based on painting Female ghost in the moonlight by Katsushika Hokusai




Raj Arumugam's picture

ABOUT THE POET ~
...been thinking in the language of poetry and scribbling verse from as early as I can recall of my days...FLASHBACK: born naked in India in 1955...was shipped to Singapore in 1961, well-packaged...sent myself over permanently to Australia in early 1998...FINIS: ...just can't get out of the poetry-mind...


Last updated August 20, 2011