Punishment in kindergarten: by Kamala Das

Today the world is a little more my own.
No need to remember the pain
A blue frocked women caused,throwing
Words at me like pots and pans ,to drain
That honey-coloured day of peace,
"why don't you join the others,
what a peculiar child you are?"

On the lawn ,in clusters ,sat my schoolmates sipping
Sugarcane,they turned and laughed;
Childrens are funny thing, they laugh
In mirth at other's tears ,I buried

My face in the sun-warmed hedge
And smelt the flowers and the pain

The words are muffled now,
the laughingfaces only a blur.
The years haveSped along ,stopping briefly
At beloved halts and movingSadly on.
My mind has foundAn adult peace .
No need to remember
That picnic day when i lay hidden
By the hedge,watching steel white sun
Standing lonely in the sky.