A Love Poem

(For my wife)

on        a 

journey                  away 

from you              to

a                 f a r                 a w a y

place            from               you 

i admire              your 

magpie-packing and 

insistence to see

the unforeseen                 you

saved me from shabbiness

of appearance 

and the fate forced me 

to face the reality

in that scholarly assemblage 

of Yu

where i travelled to be

better than 

myself to be 

face to face 

with my self

stripped of abundance

i have been used to

where 

you were 

within me:

the tranquil face 

of a Buddha 

in Dazu

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Yu: the local name of Chongqing

Dazu: Dazu County (160 km to the west of Chongqing) in Sichuan Province in China famous for carved stone figures relating mainly to Buddhism.

-- Anil K Prasad