Kala Ramesh
Pune, Maharashtra, India

I Waited Long

                              for I wanted    to be
wanted
                  on a cliff    a sheer fall
                I turn away
                                  from you
the knot on a thread
                                  forever shows
from my mirror
                            an alien stares back

I'm okay I repeat
              a hundred times
how weak, how broken words sound
my great-grandmother whimpers in a corner
I stand up
longing to discover, to accept
the new woman
taking shape deep within me

if becoming
the sap in a pine tree
means union
is there a connection
between the blood in all of us