Tongue Tale Poem by Raj Arumugam

1
when I was six
just before I left my village in India
for the last time
my five-year-old girlfriend
and I huddled together in the cow-shed
and she whispered gently into my ears:
I shall miss your tongue
in my mouth;
keep it fresh with a tongue-cleaner
till you return
for we must have again
our tongues in each other’s mouth


2
now I wonder
where she is
for though I’ve never been back to my village or to India
and have retained our village tradition
of a tongue kept clean, sharp and supple
with the use of a tongue-wiper,
my informants tell me
she’s not in the village
nor does anyone know what happened to her family;
perhaps, I wonder, if she is lost amongst the millions
in Mumbai or in Delhi
or perhaps she too was set adrift
in the Indian diaspora
and is perhaps now in the UK, or the US
or even in some remote European country
or perhaps as close to me as the next state Down Under












3
and sometimes too as I recall her tongue in my mouth
I wonder with jealousy what foreign tongue she explores now
or what foreign tongue now resides in her mouth
or perhaps she is tongue-tied now
for she might have lost all her teeth;
but still I desire one day
to meet my tongue-friend from my childhood
and perhaps when we meet
we will greet each other with our tongues in each other’s mouth
and if our spouses rage or try and pull us apart;
I’ll explain
(after they have pulled tongues apart, if they can)
that this is an old and sacred village custom
this putting of tongues in one another’s mouth
and could they please excuse us
as we put our tongues in each other’s mouth as often as we like
for this way we do our part
to preserve a very ancient village culture
and tradition that is firmly within
and only meant for those of the remote village I was born in;
and could they just stand and watch -
no wagging tongues, please -
and thank you very much…








(this is poem 3 of 3 in the tongue poems series; the other two are: 1) sing you of the tongue 2) the confessions of John Tongue))