'A Festival Of Empty Words': Poem On SC's Same-Sex Marriage Verdict

A 5-judge constitutional bench of the SC unanimously ruled against the legalisation of same-sex marriages in India.

(Photo: Vibhushita Singh/The Quint)

Video Editor: Prashant Chauhan

A five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court of India unanimously ruled against the legalisation of same-sex marriages on Tuesday, 17 October.

While Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice SK Kaul were in favour of recognising civil unions of non-heterosexual couples, Justices SR Bhat, Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha said it would not be "constitutionally permissible to recognise a right to civil union mirroring a marriage."

This poem is a reflection on the verdict.

Your words mean nothing

If they end with a no

Do you see –

the sea of broken hearts

that bleed the colours of the rainbow

I write about the Law

But today I will exhale Poetry

The Gatekeepers can cite their Acts

They mean nothing if you don't feel

The desperate hunger of an unfinished kiss

A kiss delayed, a​ kiss denied

Oh to be turned away

from the glorious fete of glittering rights

But no battles are won overnight

Hold hands in the dark, and there will be light

Or maybe the truth was never in sight?

Maybe this one was

just a festival of empty words

Not the glorious fete

of glittering rights

(Mekhala Saran is studying Global Media and Digital Communications at SOAS, University of London. She was formerly The Quint's Principal Correspondent - Legal. Find her on X @mekhala_saran.)