TODAY
-
Gopi
Kottoor (India)
A day
sixty years ago
rises in my mind
revolving
in a 45 rpm
vinyl record,
the morning newspaper
caught like a giant butterfly
on a rose thorn
piercing the black and white photograph
of Nehru
With the news of his death
That I carefully disengage
To surprise father
Still asleep,
my mother's hand
across his chest
rising and falling with his breath,
a quiet wing at rest.
And the song
Jaane kahan gaye woh din...*
Gently turning
in a mist of morning roses
Coming to a dead end.
*Where have those days gone : song, Hindi film
‘MeraNaam Joker.’
****