A raven wakened me today,
delivered me from moldy bed
liberating me to stray
from considering the dead.

I have awakened to a dream,
some poets neglecting rhyme.
Picture boxes sit and scream.
People have no sense of time.

Time proceeds here without ticking,
clock hands sweeping, never ticking,
typist typing without clicking.
My past will return nevermore.

When I remember sitting in the car
listening to you finish your story
before we headed into the house and
cooked dinner together while the music
softly played its comforting melodies,
I am reminded that each breath with you
is an unexpected gift and treasure
that has steeped my life in fascination.
And as I wake each day to your rare smile
I am resolute to forever strive
to be worthy of sitting in the car
listening to you finish your story.

I will call her simply Jane
To me she needed no name
Our houses built all the same

Her garden backed onto mine
Where we met that first time
A small girl no older than nine

“Hello” she cried out one day
All the barriers flew away
We were in the same place

One older mind and a child
The gap was bridged we talked
Over the fence our spaces safe

“I shall call you Poppy she said”
By this she was inside my head
Another daughter to join mine

Two heavenly roads diverged into this callous world,
I took the one less travelled by;
And my soul-mate took the other,
Where her car got stuck in huge traffic jam.

I have been looking for her for years,
And I know, for sure,
Now she is looking for me too,
But in opposite directions.

Let St. Valentine light her tank of love,
Let her come to the crossroads where I still misfire.

(Dhaka, 11 February 2014)