Duet

In winter the dew was

No dampener for me,

Long before the sun

Even thought of rising,

I was up to sweep and

Water our front yard,

With a woollen shawl

Covering my head.

As I began my kolam

The piano opened up

From the third house

The elderly lady

Stirred memories of

My teacher playing

In the quiet chapel

Back in our hometown ---

The notes trotted along

With my lines as if they

Were dancing to them,

Who was drawing now?

The shape expanded

Seemingly on its own

And at one point

I was a bystander

With the music

And strokes flowing

Into one another ---

A duet at dawn

Of the heard and drawn

The coming and the gone

The timeless and its spawn.