‘Elegy’ 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.

 

 

Poet’s Bio:

Prathap Kamath teaches English literature at University of Kerala. He has published a collection of poems Ekalavya: a book of poems.His is poems have appeared in several journals of national and international repute and  anthologies namely The Poetry of War and Peace and Words on the Winds of Change, both published from Canada by www.blurb.com. He is one among the 150 poets featured in The Dance of the Peacock-An Anthology of English Poetry from India published by Hidden Brook Press, Canada. He is also a short story writer.  Blood Rain and Other Stories (Delhi: LiFi, 2014) is his first collection of stories in English.

Illustration by Alan Van Every (Featured image on the front page)

Leave a Reply