By the Ocean : A Poem for my Mother

 

By the Ocean

 

Above my rooftop

red bricks laced with green moss

topaz shine of Seven Sages

and galaxies of untouched dreams,

she rode the golden cart

pulled by Mahadev’s own

snow white bullocks…

From the delicate

arc of the thatched rooftop

she leapt like a stag

and stepped onto the main street.

‘Careful, Mata, careful,’

I pleaded, panic shriveled.

‘Look at her, how strong she is,

in spite of her age,’ I tell Shakti,

as we watch from the rooftop.

She gains poise, elongates

her gaze and saunters onto

the stretch of green fields

across the village…

Shaken by the drone

of the central heating boulder

I woke up, feeling

a sudden rush of the youthful energy

she spent with us and then left,

making me dream of her

in this strange steely island

by a sopping wet shore…

From A Blizzard in my Bones: New York Poems