Nun's Prayer

Sreekumar K

A candle praying alone in the dark

Water mislead down a tiny whirlpool

A chunk of ice in saltless tears

Melts in my forehead, flows down my cheeks

 

This is my world, my heaven, my hell

Uninvited night lingers behind me

An unknown ocean swims before me

Hungry and cold, I munch on my rosary

 

Too many footsteps on the wet beach

Don’t know which one is mine

Sifted by the waves moping the floor,

The heavier ones do survive

 

Thirst tugs at my tongue

Wringing out its dry wetness

I am not floating about here

Only my feet have gone numb

 

Tied to the bottom of this discarded cross

I spend my life in this whitewashed sepulchre

While nerves, veins, tendons and tiny tissues

Wriggle inside me, effecting a caving in