Limen/Threshold Poem by Sairindhree Sen

You transcribed your silent rapture-
Upon my vestal spirit,
With a pen dipped in paraffin;
Your caresses fondled me,
Like gentle white feathers.
I blushed and beamed-
In nameless ecstasy;
But standing upon the threshold,
Perceived no scripts, no impressions,
Until sparks of flaming splinters-
Set my soul ablaze;
And your inscriptions-
Emerged like hieroglyphics
Upon my mind’s eye.

I sighed, smiling upon my naïveté,
And said to myself:
“You silly thing!
You failed to decipher love.”

You transcribed your silent anguish-
Upon my virgin soul,
With a needle moulded in frost;
Your incisions singed me,
Like venomous lethal fangs.
I writhed and whimpered-
In nameless agony;
But standing upon the threshold,
Perceived no scars, no blemishes,
Until pearls of saline tears-
Set my bruises on fire;
And my abrasions-
Emerged like vermillion
Upon my soul’s eye.

I cried, laughing at my ignorance,
And said to myself:
“You foolish thing!
You failed to comprehend love.”