Water lillies

`
As it stands now, we need to speak only every third sentence in our conversations. We choose the most beautiful ones. That's our secret.

_____________

As we crossed the road, she casually clutched my arm.

As if it was the most natural thing for her to do.
_____________

She pulled the veil gently across her face, bowed her head down, and from her hiding, stole a long glance at him. He was still smiling.
_____________

Did you notice?
Just when I caressed her ivory white petal, the flower smiled!
Did you notice?
_____________

`

Monsoon

`
The monsoon frogs croak the language of my lost childhood.
_____________

Do not love my talents. 
Love instead my infinite loneliness.
_____________

All the songs I had learned to sing
It seems were for this day;
All those poems I'd read as a child
They seem so perfect today.
_____________

Do not hate me so;

You and I are one and the same,

Especially that part of me you hate so much.

_____________

When I finally gathered the courage, you turned me down. 
And I thought, this is what I had been waiting for so long.

_____________

You wait for me on the other bank. 
The river flows, and I do not have the courage to swim.

_____________

Do not agree with me. 
Accept me. 

_____________

I look at the moon; and all is well with the world.

_____________

The boy dashed into the room excited: “There was this flash of lightning,” he blurted out. 
“For a moment I thought it was daylight.”
_____________

And when at last I reached the top, I realized I was scared of heights.
_____________

`

অসম্পূর্ণ (Incomplete)

`

ঠিক এমনি করেই, আর একটি ক্লান্ত দিন 

ঢলে পরে আরও একটি রাতের বুকে  –

নিঃশেষিত, তবু অসম্পূর্ণ |

(And in some such way, another tired day 

Collapses onto yet another night  –

Exhausted, yet incomplete.)

`

White Plains, NY,

October, 2011