by Nalini Priyadarshni

The author

Beads from Peru

 

Back from visiting Machu Picchu

on that hot and dusty afternoon

when he gazed at rows of beautiful beads

he did not believe in predestination or

reincarnation nor karmic connections.

 

Each design more beautiful than the other

it took him several minutes to choose

which earrings, bracelet or necklace he wanted

and several decades to decide for whom

 

He does not believe in predestination

or reincarnation nor karmic connections when

he adorns the woman he has never met

but loves no less for that

with the beads he bought in Peru

***

Unfinished Business

 

Between then and now

I’ve shorn my tresses, had children

Walked roads I didn’t even know exist.

 

Silly of me to imagine things wouldn’t change

And I am not even talking about your hair.

Memories play games on checkered board

Remembrances dicey at best

Not of what happened

But what we perceived.

 

Forever nipping at our heels

What if we had a little more time.

 

Those crimson bindis abandoned

On the mirror of your washstand

Watched over as we delved into each other and selves

Wrapped arms, scrambled eggs, tea in bed

When we slept without a worry in the world

 

Later, every time I traced on water

The face once held close to my own

I wondered if you ever returned to

Sand dunes trampled on thoughtlessly

And left without a word

 

 

Now threatens to obliterate reminiscences

We packed away with letters never written

Visited and unfolded in dead of night

Every time we needed kindness

 

 

We did not deserve

 

 

Unfinished business has a way to remain that way

Or finish in a way least expected

It is left unfinished for a reason.

***

About the author Nalini Priyadarshni is a poet, writer, editor and amateur photographer. Her work has appeared at Up the Staircase Weekly, eFiction India, Mad Swirl, Crescent Magazine, The Riveter Review, Writes & Lovers Café, The Gambler, Camel Saloon, Earl of Plaid, CUIB-NEST-NIDO, and The Open Road Review, Phoenix Photo and Fiction, Undertow Tanka Calliope Magazine and 52 loves besides numerous anthologies including I Am Woman, Awakening of She, Art of Being Human etc. Her forthcoming publications include I Am Waiting series by Silver Birch Press, Quail Bell Magazine and Lipstickparty Magazine. She lives in India with her husband and two feisty kids.