This poem was inspired by Anita Desai's novel Clear Light of Day.
ELUSION
Once again
You eluded me
As I slid blinking between two doors
And the dust curled in tendrils around my feet
Up my legs
Into my eyes
Then you were gone.
I thought I saw your shadow
Flitting, flying
Down the garden amid the roses
Crinkled shrivelled roses
Heads bowed at your approach
Hushed in the dusk
As you rushed on by.
Headlong always
You and I
Through the years hurdled and leaped,
Sparkling salmon in a dust-stream,
Mirages for pools
Mirrors for reality -
A picture of life.
You thought you’d go.
You thought I’d stay
Entrenched in static, inertia circles
Binding through blinding
And I ran, headlong, as we had together
Far away, lifting off
Leaving you in a cloud as you had so often me.
