Elegy Poem by PRATHAP KAMATH

The news of ends came
mounting the whitest clouds;
they showered each time
I shivered
a cool drizzle
as soft as mother's kiss
that got warmer by the moment
falling upon me.

Each loved one went silently down;
bubbles bursting leaving behind
images they held
to stick on the glass of memory.

I looked at the sky
among the clouds.
I cried
eli eli lama sabaktani.
I liked that alien tongue
that so well hugged one down
into the warmth of flesh.

I searched my body
for the smell of the loved ones
that died one after another;
each one was the wet petal
of a certain time
with tales of days spent together
etched amidst its veins.

You took away from my book of life
each one of you as you went
a page on which the ink was spread
by the tears I shed.