Posh Puja

Darjeeling Train Tracks in the Himalayas

Come by train, my love,

Your heart straining

through the rusting heat of Delhi,

From the dust rise up

And come

To a lake in Kashmir,

Beneath the Himalayas~~

I’ll be waiting.

Follow my voice,

Whispering your name,

Soft as pashmina,

Through supple fields of semolina.

And we’ll embark,

Shikara together~~

Your feather cockaded,

My pale orchid veil,

In the green-grey rippling

Silk moiré waters,

We’ll shyly eye each other’s reflection.

There we’ll filigree sigh,

the air, crushed pearls between us;

The rosewater sky will deepen to dusk.

A single gold thread of light will bind us.

I’ll touch your feet with mine,

Your hands, I’ll clasp.

Under the red canopy,

Sheltered together,

The heavens will shower us with flowers

At last.

A Shikara docked on Dal Lake, Kashmir