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‘Tell Me, Sister Wind’ (Extracts from The Blue Notebook) by Randhir Khare, award winning Indian poet, writer, playwright and activist
From INTO THE BLUE BEYOND, a soon-to-be-published volume of poems which celebrate the Himalayas. These poems are also being performed by the poet as part of a series of live concerts with his newly formed poetry-music band MYSTIC.
‘Tell Me, Sister Wind’
Tell me sister wind
Where does this road end?
All day I have walked
With friends,
Strangers,
Lovers,
My shadow,
In the company of ravens and magpies,
Lofting swifts,
Water voices,
The past like a swarm of bees
Hiving my heart;
Tell me sister wind
Where does this road end?
All night I have walked
With wolves,
Dreams,
Moon shadow,
In the company of my many selves,
Broken promises,
Snow song;
Tell me sister wind
Where does this road end?
Over the edge of the last mountain
Floating through ice knife air,
Crashing on snow rocks,
Scattering,
Each particle sinking to rest
Somewhere below,
Finally liberated –
From the long journey,
The hoping,
The loving,
The waiting,
The dreaming,
The remembering?
Does the road
Wander into towns,
Villages, cities, fields,
Over journeying rivers,
In and out of dark tunnels
Shot through mountain sides;
Bleeding visions of endless roads
And wolves and broken promises
And beehived hearts
And caravans of longing,
Until one day –
I am walking again
In the company of strangers,
Lovers,
Ravens, magpies,
And my many selves?
Am I dreaming the road I walk on sister wind,
Fragrant with seasons,
Lover of freedom,
Unable to move?
Tell me sister wind
Where does this road end?
© Randhir Khare