Desire
One is you and two is me
And three is a crowd
The singing forest is behind us
Only the tail of its scent hangs on me
We walk together
And when I count
There are only two of us
But a shadow stalks the space between
And a third party stammers to the wind
Excuse me you said something
While I listened to the silence
And who was the other
That walked with an angled gait
And paroxysmal laughter
Bruising this cold evening?
You brought desire
In your pocket
It is fine by me
But for its clanging
You should have wrapped it in muslin
It is cold
And the fire is outside
Leaping at us
One is you
Two is desire
And three is me
We should come closer
The forest has folded on its own
And where shall we put
This armless eel
Which you had to carry
In your pocket
And how do we get closer?
Three is a crowd
It is you I need
Not this limbless stranger
Coughing in the darkness
The sizzle of an evening
Cannot be contained
In a loveless rigmarole
Let’s count one last time
One two three
And where am I?
---------
This was the first poem I wrote after 'Time series.' It was written while returning from Bangalore in our new car after visiting my brother's new house.
Published in the Anthology 'The Silken Web.'
Unisun Publications, Bangalore 2007
Copyright@ INdividual Poets
.....................................
Posts
3 comments:
This poem is so stunning I have come back to read it, not least because some of its ambiguity, begs for more than one reading, but I absolutely love it.
Dear B
I have corrected the small errors that had crept in while I copied out the poem from the Anthology 'The Silken Web' itself.
My eyes tend to be misty, thus the errors. You may read it again now. It stands corrected.
When I first read this poem, I was rather wary about it. On second reading, I realised the poem was a great mix of the surreal and the real.
Post a Comment