A Return to Ladakh: The Leaving

On Train To Delhi

I seek
anonymity
a brief respite
from captivity
of relationships
true and strong
its freedom
that I long
to be a flotsam

riding tides of time

in silent awareness
of universal
rhythms and rhymes
insignificance
is what I crave
for this alone
the world I brave!

She Ran After Me: a child woman in her night shirt, knotted hair, large shimmery eyes, forlorn and yet remembering to smile; her feet were bare as she skimmed besides the car, trying to hold on to my hand, as she said,"goodbye" in the darkness of the night. "I love you, Mama"is a refrain she repeated, now and again, imprinting it on my heart what I was leaving behind, and raising questions, "why?"

I am still haunted by my daughter's face, as I now speed away on rail, in flight, towards vast emptiness, to a beckoning isolation, asking "why I need to leave behind one me, to seek an inner me?"