Friday, 18 January 2013

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)

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