Subir Ningthouja

The 42 year old woman,
gasping every painful breath
with her emaciated frame
coaxing her MDR -TB moth eaten lungs
...

It is Janmashtami today
And the children
Are bursting crackers
And shooting toyguns
...

This afternoon
While in a little nap
Someone
Who had been buried
...

...

...

The rivulets run dry
The perennial spring is plugged
By the ever coming
The ever shifting
...

Here I am
In this wind swept desert
With my baggage
Of the past
...

Long ago
When everything was possible
When we winked back at the stars
Caressed the moon
...

I can see it in her eyes
The pain gnawing at her on and on
I can feel it too
Same as I can feel my own pain
...

You and me
We were watching the western sky
That dusk That evening
The crescent moon did come up
...