Day Twelve: NaPoWriMo: Symphony of Ahalya: The Silence, the Song

NaPoWriMo: Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem inspired by Wallace Stevens’ poem, “Peter Quince at the Clavier.” It’s a complex poem that not only heavily features the idea of music, but is structured like a symphony. Its four sections, like symphonic movements, play with and expand on an overall theme, using the story of Susannah and the Elders as a backdrop.

Try writing a poem that makes reference to one or more myths, legends, or other well-known stories, that features wordplay (including rhyme), mixes formal and informal language, and contains multiple sections that play with a theme. Try also to incorporate at least one abstract concept – for example, desire or sorrow or pride or whimsy.

Ahalya by Raja Ravi Varma

I have chosen Ahalya's story here (a brief story is below the poem), one of the Panchakanya's (or the Five Maidens - powerful women from the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharatha). Symphony of Ahalya is a retelling of one of Indian mythology’s most enigmatic women — not merely as a cautionary tale, but as a meditation on beauty, desire, silence, and redemption. Through four poetic movements, this piece reimagines Ahalya’s journey: from divine creation to betrayal, from cursed stillness to awakening. Interweaving classical myth with contemporary voice, it explores how narratives shape women, how silence holds truth, and how rising is sometimes the most radical form of grace. This is not just her fall — it’s her song, her stillness, her becoming.

Day Twelve: NaPoWriMo: Symphony of Ahalya: The Silence, the Song

The Moonlight (The Making)

Desire - The birth of beauty and the gaze of gods

In dust, she dwelt not — no, divinely carved,
By Brahma’s thought, from dream unmarred.
Ahalya — not born, but breathed, like flame,
A name that even silence spoke in shame.

**The poem has been removed to facilitate for submissions. Thank you for visiting.**

AHALYA: The tale of Ahalya is primarily found in the Bala-kandam of the Ramayan by sage Valmiki. Ahalya was a princess from the Puru Dynasty and was the wife of the great sage Gautama.

Ahalya's beauty was besotted by Lord Indira who was intent on seeking her companionship. Indra disguised himself as Gautama and Ahalya allowed Indra into her home. Gautama returned from his prayer to discover the misdeed. In addition to cursing Indra, he cursed Ahalya to turn to stone. The curse was to be absolved only when Sri Rama entered the precincts of the ashram. The curse of Ahalya is finally absolved when Sri Rama visits the ashram of Gautama before he reaches Mithila accompanied by the great sage Vishwamitra and his brother Lakshmana. (Google Arts and Culture)