Price
Bought a couplet from a little boy
selling shayari;
“Didi, listen, this will make you
very happy”, he said.
I listened greedily as the beautiful
lines washed over me.
When he held out a
grubby palm for his payment,
I clutched it tightly
crushing
the note within.
How much for a forever supply?
I mouthed inwardly.
His smile slipped, his
eyes fell silent;
don’t you know,
he seemed to say,
as he wriggled out of my
grasp, there is
no such thing
as
forever?
Travelette 1 - Sheik Salim Chisti’s Dargah, Fatehpur Sikri. November 2005.
selling shayari;
“Didi, listen, this will make you
very happy”, he said.
I listened greedily as the beautiful
lines washed over me.
When he held out a
grubby palm for his payment,
I clutched it tightly
crushing
the note within.
How much for a forever supply?
I mouthed inwardly.
His smile slipped, his
eyes fell silent;
don’t you know,
he seemed to say,
as he wriggled out of my
grasp, there is
no such thing
as
forever?
Travelette 1 - Sheik Salim Chisti’s Dargah, Fatehpur Sikri. November 2005.
posted by kaaju katli | 11:46 AM
13 Comments:
Kajukatli--
this poem invites / wants some readerly slowing down! At first read, I kind of imagined it as an imagined encounter: the seller of poetry. Then, seeing note of the Salim Chishti dargah, supposed it's possible there are littleboy poetry-couplet sellers. Then, reading poem again (more attentively), noted that only the 1st stanza involves spoken words.
Finally (in this sequence? well for sake of a story): seeing "Travellete I," I'm left with the happy thought that even if a forever poetry-supply may be cosmicly prohibited, still this mini-supply seems likely to deliver a few siblings for this more-than-merely-likeable item.
sigh... the smell of poetry lingers still in the dargahs...
how you be?
R
d.i - indeed, there was a little boy selling poetry at the dargah. thank you for your comments.
ishqa - how *are* you? thanks for dropping by!
Nice , moving as usual:-)
Sweetheart ur such priceless post brings smile on our face.Wish u pen and post such valuable poetry "Forever". I feel proud of u and should'nt miss submitting it...Love
Beautiful! Especially the closing stanza. :-)
Wish you a joyous new year! :-)
Thank you, and a very happy new year to all :-)
Warmest,
-kk
worth the wait.
ur best till date for me
it takes me through varied images and emotions...
curious to know which one is ur fav
happy 2006
i_f
Aaah sigh! For these lovely words.
Wish you a great year; may (y)our supply of poetry never stop flowing. :-)
How lovely... happy new year to you, Indi :)
You seem to have changed your manner of writing.. I'm so hooked to your original style that I'm left feeling a bit hungry.
That's poignant - `how much for a forever supply?'
Verrry nice one.
Not as complicated as David Raphael's interpretation though!! Cheers bro!
you have made me relive the entire trip again with these lovely travellets...
the glimpse of sadness is nicely put.
Vaish
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