An Hour Passes
Kala Ramesh, India

And so, an hour passes . . .

dead body . . .
only the shadows of leaves
dance on her face

My wife died – thirteen days back.
To be single again - it’s a strange feeling that after sixty-six years of togetherness, I am all alone.

Like the River Cauvery that swells in the monsoons then becomes so thin that it seems almost like a drawn line, my family was huge once when my five children were small - kids take wings and take off and slowly my wife and I just grew accustomed to being by ourselves.

My son and my daughter-in-law are here. They keep insisting that I will feel miserable in London. I keep telling them that I am ready to go with them. My daughter-in-law says "But papa, you have your temple, your friends here. What will you do there? It’s a foreign country papa, try to understand."

How can I tell her that I am scared of staying alone? Won’t my grandchildren laugh at me?

sultry morning
the chameleon changes
its colors

Kala Ramesh is a performing vocalist in Indian Classical Music. She has given many concerts in India. She has published several articles on Indian Music and Indian Thought.

Kala has taught creative art in schools and taken workshops for children for The Times of India, in their NIE program.

Read Kala Ramesh's haiku or her essay on Indian Music and Haiku in this issue of Simply Haiku.

Copyright 2005: Simply Haiku