..........

Sitting at the doorsteps,
Watching the rain
splash across her face,
a few unknown memories;
She smiled and yet,
two drops stealthily
crept out of her eyes;

Tasting the content of salt in the drops,
she held those drops in her palm-
swaying and rolling; slowly
she stretched her arm
in that torrential downpour,
And those two tears were washed away;
freed- along the unknown road…

Heady happiness in her
now drooping eyes,
The subtle haphazard heaviness
settling in her head.
The pain held steadfast,
in that numb gaze,
Looking through the sky.

Unaware of the many bicycles, rickshaws,
scooters, bikes and cars
passing across,
men, women rushing by;avoiding the rain-
taking shelter beside the boundary walls of
houses haunted by regularity
Or in the park across the houses,
The motor shed serving
as one huge umbrella.

Oblivious of their glances,
yet noticing minutely-
The worms creeping out of the ground...
The walls, the rusted swings in the park,
the cemented seats, the leaves and the grass,
the railings, the roads,
the whole universe under her gaze,
being cleansed off the grime.

She is pulled onto the road by
her frivolous friends;
And she splits into two.
The soul sits at the door step,
as she laughs and smiles in the rain.
They jump in the puddles,
and run around in the park
throwing mud and leaves at each other,
and scream overjoyed
intoxicated in unabashed innocence;

She embraces the rain
all the while staring back at herself
imploring, pleading, beseeching herself to join,
who still sat with that cold, numb gaze
at the doorstep;
Making the threshold her home, she sits..
neither brooding, nor complaining, nor waiting
not searching, not sad;
Just numb; comfortably numb…

The rain stops in a couple of hours,
people get back to their work;
She and her friends
like bright, newly dressed flowers
happily swaying in the breeze,
like the happy green trees-
chatter away to glory
sitting in the park,
half soaked and half dry
like the pretty mermaids
Whispering softly;
She glances back at the doorstep...

And finds herself,
snuggled in the arms of clouds
being lulled into a sleep.
The mild breeze crystallizing around her,
The drops floating around, caressing her.

She bids goodbye to her friends,
gently waking herself, to go back home..

Hugging each other tightly, they cry;
Tears streaming down their eyes,
something welling up deep inside both of them
And finally they drown yet again,
into each other.

Half smiling, half crying,
not alive, yet not dying…

image courtesy: deviantart.com