TWENTY
YEARS AFTER
(Dedicated to “Laxmi”)
- Tapan Kumar Pradhan (India)
Her smile
opened up a deep wound
I did not know existed in my old heart
But the years stood as a reefed barrier
Traversed by little suppressed sighs
I
took a little step forward
And the pink carpet rose to meet me
Along with moist
jasmines in her hair
And a tired yellow necklace of gold
A conjugal gift, ah betrayed
of old
I could see her dry lips flutter on the floor
As a wriggling shadow jumped up
And hung about my neck
Twenty years do make a brutal difference
Hairs start thinning around calloused ears
Hour glass takes on a barrel looking shape
Wrinkles start concealing
corners of eyes
But
certain things had but little changed
Nervous wink in
that shy sideways smile,
Quirky angle in the gait, tremor in voice,
Toes drawing little funny circles on the floor
Bosom wide enough
for a boat to pass through
But I had left those
shores long, long ago
Between her shadow and mine
Simmered a gulf of forty uneasy years
Our breaths began to sail slowly across
Ahead, her cheeks stretched out like a meadow
Where I started playing my ancient tunes
A muscle
twitched in her left calf
As my shadow on her face quavered
Like a fish in
a hoop
With eyes closing in
From the caverns of her hollow mouth
A long history beckoned.
******