We’ll be walking hand in hand
in a forest we will kiss –
not stopping not watching
cross boundaries so blind.
In the middle of a kiss
you will shiver and dissolve
melting like the witch
into a puddle into a pool.
As I reach towards you
arms will lengthen and turn solid
skin transforms to bark –
thick hair becomes green leaves.
Each spring the girls come running –
giggles break the silence –
to seek a future lover
in the stillness of your depths.
Instead you cruel reflect
the shadows in their singing
they leave a little wiser
sadness in their step.
And I can never touch you
but my roots drink thirsty deeply –
each autumn leaves a scattering
gold and scarlet sinking slowly.
We can only hope for summer
storms to send you flooding –
up against me to surround me
in a watery embrace.
*****
M.A. Mohanraj
September 27, 1993
(for Jeff – happy birthday)