Friend, don't forget, I am always in your footsteps,
I, won't forget, I am always in your footsteps
Sunset, where English trains
roll slowly by like
patient caterpillars
on country soil,
I am travelling forward.
Here, where the winds
howl low
through patient conifers
that wave at me,
I see beyond the leaden sky
to the green spires of Prague
to watery whispers of Venice
to flowers tended carefully
on window sills in Graz.
And I am walking, toes between sand,
red rust sand, and open fence
through curlicues of Cambodian dreams
crossing borders, homes and streams
to remind you
to remind you
Friend, don't forget, I am always in your footsteps,
I, won't forget, I am always in your footsteps.
- Shaista Tayabali, 2010
My first picture is of a child whose name I do not know, whose life I do not know, whose eyes I cannot see, but who already inspires my poetry. Happy Diwali to the little lights that are our children everywhere.
photograph by Rizwan
