In your debt ,
Neera
Who was that talking
on the stairs so calmly?
After someone left
closing the door, you still stood there for a while
Hands and chin
resting on the railing, no one will think of you as stilled lightning
A little dark, a
shade stolen from the leaves of the lotus,
You stayed
And I suddenly thought
of Neera as I looked at you, Neera.
In the whole year I
only get to see you twice
For Holi and
Saraswati Puja, both days of extreme colour
In all those flowers
and all that colour, only two days in a whole year -
On those two days you
are a bit different, somehow a different Neera
On the other 363 too
many things enclose you like guards.
You have never seen
me in an empty room, I have hidden my need
Never letting you see
it, we have never tried to touch the emptiness
Within with both hands,
nor tried to speak to each other within that silence
Or tried to breathe
in the scent of your eyes as mine encircle you -
I have hidden my need,
Neera
On every other day, I
only have those two days with you.
Neera, you suddenly
remind me of Neera!
I have never craved
you, nor pulled on your strings
I have never tried entering
your pure body using just any excuse
I have not defiled
you with my bloody hands with perfect ease:
I only see you for
Holi and Saraswati Puja – on those stairs
And today you stayed
even after I had left
Neera, I am forever
in your debt for Neera’s sake.
Translation(mine)
