PURGED AND CALM

People- you haven’t brought rain
o king of clouds
To this thirsty land
you rise from distant oceans
Amble over hills and dales
Groves bowers and towers
Palaces and castles perched on hills
You look pale shrunken small
But no drops fall
cloud- i am purged and calm
The brute in me subdued
What beatitude what bliss!
All my water I have poured
In gusts of tears
on a woman of seventy-eighth
who daily washes the swaddling clothes
Of her infant son
And keeps his toys well arranged
For though six decades have passed
When he died and was taken away
He may return home today
All the long summer days
All the long winter nights
She waits for him
and stares at the distant path
Every whimper of a baby in the neighbourhood
Sends a quiver from her breast
deep down her womb
And beyond the infant’s tomb


Rajendra Garg
54/8,Mansarovar,Jaipur 302020
Phone-0141-2785170