Matchmaking On The Trip To Ponmudi

[SivaRamanathan]

inspired by Bernie's 'you and me'

Fixing up the KSRCT Bus, State transport
maneuvering the seats, match making
the ride uphill, the tarpaulin flaps;
we are twenty boys and girls on the hills tops
with beautiful Rathi and her lecturer husband.

Walking higher up watching cigarette fumes
I seek to get away from the group
you walk up just brushing my knuckles
I am startled by your grasp of fingers
but why, I do not know.

And then the first kiss experimental
at first and then not caring for any damn
intrusion, my new found adventure
salubrious as the atmosphere, all those
twisted trails across clear streams.

Returning we found two close seats
stayed back after college at the Institute
of English, breaking kisses at the sound
of twigs crushed by crows, and tipped
the peon who called me 'Sare,'out of respect.

Now you are in a different continent, have
made your name with your journalist wife,
and I have settled for a comfortable marriage
not telling my children of my shallow loves
that I have kept in the bottom drawer-Chap Book-2.

This poem where I have opened up,
cherishes my before marriage vows of loving
and leaving, and I think how brave I was
not to have succumbed to a love marriage
and living with fresh moral values like 'forget .'

[Bernie01]

Siva---

a clear yet subtle narrative that i responded to and felt deeply. a wonderful, a delicate balance between the emotions of the narrator while recognizing fully the value of her current choice.

original subject matter.


very nice poem.




bernie

[SivaRamanathan]

Bernie

Thanks for reading and your positive comment.

Siva

[BobBradshaw]

I agree with Bernie....a sweet, charming poem