keeps rolling
through the world
of white buildings
and all that variety
which the moon
now will soon shine on
how beautiful
how calm
and how sad
all this is
and last night the flat above mine
got flooded
I was collecting water
in three buckets
and swabbing the floor
from the leakage
and then there is all this delight
and anxiety in the afternoon sun
the colour of burnished gold
the colour of memory
the colour of poetry
the colour of song
the colour of sadness
the colour of death
while the sky paints itself
into such a stillness
I awaken into such quiet bliss
I have never felt before
here you go partner
for all that
the train seems to say
awakening me aloud
with its horn
once again
and the small brown sparrows chirp
sweet whistles of melody
a black crow cancels out
cawing in an arc
I sigh and sigh
until a recurring image of the sea
comes by
and somehow tempts me
to try
a breakfast of eggs and bread
to clear the confusion in my head
go on go on
the waves seem to say
it’s a nice way
to begin your day.
The above poem is from my third book The Branches (2015).
Dominic Alapat 