The Well

How far can you clothe yourself
How far can I move away from myself ?

We have always been friends
though you were born a long time
before I opened my eyelings
and saw your ugly concrete
flaking off in the corners
through my mother's bedroom window.

A thing captures my mind-
the hollow in my chest
the hollow on a chestnut's trunk
on the back of a camel
the hollow that gnaws at me when
I take off in an aeroplane

But why this effort
to put on iron garments?

When you don't have a torso
but only a hollow
straight and firm
and strong enough
to prod the womb of the land?

Why do you cover yourself
when you know
a rat
cannot escape staring at its hairy face
when it sees you?

How far can you clothe yourself
How far can I run away from myself?

( 23rd September 2012, Mehrauli, Delhi)

For W S Maugham

             

you are the repository

of the thread

that forms a spider's web

silver, supple

and ghastly thin

but important

for the survival of a species

endangered by word

travelling by mouth

   once I caught the thread

in my fingers

and my wet hands made

the coils stronger

I had to delay

my departure to the fair

by five minute

between two cream tiles

you dribble in

water and viscous thread

an invading army of insomnia

but I promise to keep your word

you will be an important line

in this story

silvery, supple

and ridiculously thin.

(7-8th 0ct 2012, Sualkuchi, Assam)