The news of ends came
mounting the whitest clouds;
they showered each time
I shivered
a cool drizzle
as soft as mother’s kiss
that got warmer by the moment
falling upon me.
Each loved one went silently down;
bubbles bursting leaving behind
images they held
to stick on the glass of memory.
I looked at the sky
among the clouds.
I cried
eli eli lama sabaktani.
I liked that alien tongue
that so well hugged one down
into the warmth of flesh.
I searched my body
for the smell of the loved ones
that died one after another;
each one was the wet petal
of a certain time
with tales of days spent together
etched amidst its veins.
You took away from my book of life
each one of you as you went
a page on which the ink was spread
by the tears I shed.
Poet’s Bio:
Prathap Kamath teaches English literature at University of Kerala. He has published a collection of poems Ekalavya: a book of poems.His is poems have appeared in several journals of national and international repute and anthologies namely The Poetry of War and Peace and Words on the Winds of Change, both published from Canada by www.blurb.com. He is one among the 150 poets featured in The Dance of the Peacock-An Anthology of English Poetry from India published by Hidden Brook Press, Canada. He is also a short story writer. Blood Rain and Other Stories (Delhi: LiFi, 2014) is his first collection of stories in English.
Illustration by Alan Van Every (Featured image on the front page)