The Man Kept a Mistress

In Indian marriages,

there are lots of calculations,

love is not the criteria.

The main aim,

is to improve social hierarchy.

rising in economic rungs,

is the core theme.

So the man married a woman,

pretty, educated, working,

one girl among,

two well-placed brothers,

All perfect conditions,

but it went wrong.

They wanted a son,

for he was the scion,

of a landlord clan.

The wife failed,

to juggle job and pregnancy,

she quit work,

and after much struggle,

she birthed a daughter.

Not good enough

For those folks,

used to receiving.

They pressured her,

gave her hormone medicines,

she slipped into insanity,

anybody would,

with psychological trauma.

They put her in a hospital,

called her psychotic,

in the name of

help with chores and childcare,

they got a spinster relative,

she never left,

the man maintained affair,

kept her as mistress,

as revenge against the wife,

for being unable,

to bear a son.

Poor disillusioned wife,

for the sake of her child,

sipped the indignity poison,

and endured the hell.

Note: Patriarchy is a real issue in India. Generations of women have been hurt, abused, or not valued, simply for not giving birth to a son.