Hollow Bricks Poem by lalitha iyer

When you are not here
alone I am a hollow brick
though they use me to quick
I am still a hollow brick
mine is nothing
you took off everything
colour and music
current and energy
all my smiles and wines
my streaming spirit
all you took one by one
when I was a kid of one
you were my mother
as I lost you in the storm
I lost my balance and calm
when I grew to a toddling roam
my doll you was who left me groan
at my teens you were my favourite maid
sending messages daily piled
you won my heart and weakened my chart
I lost in exams and learnt life truths
you went with a man of handsome stride
I wondered unreplied why not my side
when i married and stood by bedside
then you said it is time for sleep
dawns are early, duties are life
caught in the web of puzzles
wrapped in the sheets of naps
I loved the wife of mine divine
the way she walks, the way she cooks
her smell, her smiles, her delicate lies
yet she too went to the churchyard
there to sleep and bless the orchards
when the kids woke me up
my life conditioned I girdled up
my honeys they drenched me with love innocent
I inhaled, inhaled too much that they grew pleasant
soon, now, when everyone has packed to their homes
left alone am I, a Hollow Brick.