Night Walking
The girl who walked in her sleep
the girl caught in a dream
the girl who didn't know reality from fiction
the girl who threw off her bedspread
the brain chords clicked,
the message traveled down the spine
the feet uncurled and felt the floor.
She put foot after foot on concrete,
then on the mud road
as if it were school time
but where was her school bag?
Sometimes we walk
not knowing our destination or purpose---
sometimes, great men in history like the Buddha,
just walked, until they found their tree.
'Come come,' she heard, as if
an inner walk-man urged her forward
and the yekshis carried auspicious trays for her
paddy grains and tender coconut flowers,
lit lamps and zari and she followed them blindly
because her mind was weak.
Sometimes a girl thinks she is in good company
but what were the seven virgins doing?
Then, when Kuttichatan's stones started falling
it was only dusk when the midnight jasmines
bloomed, snakes plaited themselves with their pair
something snapped then, she sat bolt upright
half asleep half awake
and walked and walked till her walking feet
got blisters----what were all the household
people doing snoring like porcupines into the night?
What was she doing on the door step of the school
on the parapet sleeping without her kith and kin?
Tomorrow in daylight they would tell her
someone would ask her if she had any unfinished homework...
A girl walked in her sleep, she was my mother
when she grew up, then she walked in her life.
Sivakami Velliangiri
The girl who walked in her sleep
the girl caught in a dream
the girl who didn't know reality from fiction
the girl who threw off her bedspread
the brain chords clicked,
the message traveled down the spine
the feet uncurled and felt the floor.
She put foot after foot on concrete,
then on the mud road
as if it were school time
but where was her school bag?
Sometimes we walk
not knowing our destination or purpose---
sometimes, great men in history like the Buddha,
just walked, until they found their tree.
'Come come,' she heard, as if
an inner walk-man urged her forward
and the yekshis carried auspicious trays for her
paddy grains and tender coconut flowers,
lit lamps and zari and she followed them blindly
because her mind was weak.
Sometimes a girl thinks she is in good company
but what were the seven virgins doing?
Then, when Kuttichatan's stones started falling
it was only dusk when the midnight jasmines
bloomed, snakes plaited themselves with their pair
something snapped then, she sat bolt upright
half asleep half awake
and walked and walked till her walking feet
got blisters----what were all the household
people doing snoring like porcupines into the night?
What was she doing on the door step of the school
on the parapet sleeping without her kith and kin?
Tomorrow in daylight they would tell her
someone would ask her if she had any unfinished homework...
A girl walked in her sleep, she was my mother
when she grew up, then she walked in her life.
Sivakami Velliangiri
