One Week after Departure

Today’s mail is stacked neatly,

three small piles (bills, yours, mine)

on the kitchen table. Those rotting

tupperware containers are gone, and the

egg tray is freshly washed. Last night

I scrubbed the tub on hands and knees,

and tomorrow I will attack the moldy

shower curtain. Perhaps, by Tuesday,

I will have erased every trace of your

presence, and can work quietly at a

(dusted) computer…listening for your

muddy footsteps in the hall.

*****

M.A. Mohanraj

June 19, 1996