In Memory of the Lady I Never Met (A Poem)

(Published in MUSE INDIA / ISSN: 0975-1815)

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I saw her before

pressing her breasts

against the cold railing

near the bus stop.

The next time

she had a heavy shopping bag

reddening her wrist

flapping against her thighs.

Few days later

her toes scrubbed

the legs of her table

at a restaurant

when she tasted

her wine coloured lipstick

overlapping the smell of ash

outlined.

I saw her in my mind

quickly hanging her cloths outside

one sunny morning

wet footfalls

wrapped in a dark blue towel.

Once more

she was in a flower shop

collecting fallen petals

they swept away in small heaps.

The last time I saw her

was through the window

of a baby shoe store

clearing dust

with eyes like horizon

few sunsets before winter.

-Jharna Choudhury