Maihar

The winding dusty roads lay exhausted
I sat looking out thru the car window
At a bush bathed in dust and a crow scrutinizing a dead rat
Journey back to the past of a school dorm
I sit here waiting for years to roll back
For the phone to ring of directions

Her eyes had mist clinging to the corners
Her slender neck sans any jewelry
And unpainted finger nails perfectly shaped
The princess who returned home
To the empty shell of royalty left forgotten

Please, I prayed to someone above
Make this screen go away …

I look at the thin veins showing thru her pearly skin
On her cheeks that had many rivers of pain flow down
I hold her hand in mine
We go back to the blue tunic and black naughty-boy shoes
A dark wood cupboard and Julius Ceaser notes
Malida made of stale chappaties
Cadbury’s chocolates smuggled in ..
And watercolor canvasses of Sunday afternoons
A lone myna we hated, picking at the front yard
Two teenage girls lost in the years of growing up

The temple stood proud on the hill
We walked up the steps that brought salvation to many
All knowing goddess smiled thru her bridal finery
We prayed that we live and forgot to ask for mercy

Climbing up the old marble staircase
Looking at the fierce face of painted Rajputs on the wall
I am lost in corridors of time that refused to go away
I listen to her silent sighs and see the gleam of unshed tears
We sat in the twilight on the terrace
Watching Maihar slip to a summer slumber
And sang with the ghosts of women who died in the wells
And slipped into a silence only friends can hear
Wishing for superman to come and take us on a flight of the universe