Snippets from the Soul

Yesterday night I wept a lot
I wept like my Mini, who moaned all night 
roaming on our roof 
after losing her fellow
The fellow with whom she came to our home
With whom she has lived there for some time
and one day discovers that her fellow is not around

I could not sleep that night
A pain gripped my baby soul
inexperienced with the white snow 
that can fall in bulk and freeze an entire area
Amma consoled me, 
"I know what separation entails
Losing seven children in a row
I know what to feel, what to think
When lovely buds fall from the trees
When the tiny dresses dance in the air
A boulder on my shoulder
Two stones in my eyes...

From Amma's bedtime talks
I could not make out 
What Mini lost--a lover or a child?
I can never make out animals' age
even distinguish their countenances
As Rumi and Sumi are two sisters, but they do not look alike
But when Mini gives birth to four kittens in a bamboo vessel under our bed, I have seen 
how she shrieked 
how she remained limpid
before cleaning the newborns with her tongue

Yesterday I moaned like Mini
The morning came late then
The sun kicks on my window
I met her irritated 
strongly believing that 
Mini lost her lover

Only when a lover leaves
The rampant learns loneliness
Whatever sturdy the rampant is, 
They must fall like a honey-combed furniture
They must sing like a reed flute cut from the core.

======x=====

Umme Salma, 15/11/2025, Morning Toowong