A singular quest amidst the changing seasons emptied me out
it blew deserts where green fronds grew and scraped away the dermis of my being
sprouted a mole on my body to take along to my next life and a lump in my breast that no scalpel could cure
the search took all I had and it blew deserts where green fronds grew rich-poor, black-white, good-bad, bidden-forbidden
when had it ever mattered except that it should be found… like an encore of sweet music on an emptied – out mind the sweet octaves of raag malhaar 1should play
they should pulse like the rains at the doorstep of the heart drenching, mixing, melting, liquefying, thawing life’s essence teaching what is to be taught so that the heart might beg no more so that the soul may never enter another form again
ah! this quest
it frittered away the mind’s papyrus criss-crossed my palms, my feet gave me nothing, took me nowhere, exhausted me
don’t go too far, mother had always warned but what are the earth’s ends but tent-pegs?
anchoring flapping winds concealing vital truths
I must leave no stone unturned in my quest for love.
Vinita Agrawal
New Delhi, India
Note: 1 raag malhar – Classical Indian music set especially to the emotions of love in the rains