Still beautiful

i set aside my green bag  

containing red rosary beads, 

spare change, plane ticket

unfolding white coarse sheets
i spread it across lumpy bed
too small for both of us


jagged mirrors on ceilings  
collage of past diversions,
or maybe transgressions 


we both ignore as we 
kiss gently at first trying to 
remember how it was, were

heated embrace, bodies fitting

as we rock to familiar rhythm, 

each vigorous thrust an imprint, 

amidst crowded narrow streets,
beggars, hustlers, mayhem traffic, 
uncollected garbage, polluted air  


warming satiny skin as your tongue 
probes, taste my pink buds,  until
gripping arms, i cry out  ...   


home  


bitter sweet tamarind, red yellow papaya,
palm trees decorating brown walls
dividing, segregating rooms; we unstick


labels stitched on our foreheads, 
revelling in our bodies pulsating, still
an unbroken refrain despite oceans apart,  

then with gentle warm fingers
you cup my pale face, saying 


i am still beautiful


tracing lines under your tired eyes,
i kiss your rough, blistered palms
whispering softly, 




no, you are ....

Posted for D'Verse Poets Pub - Poetics.   The prompt is to write about a Taboo Subject - How to be Fearless and Nothing Else.    This post came from visiting my family in another part of the world. I spent close to two weeks there, happy and sad times.  Though I am presently living in Canada,  it saddens me to see the country mired in greed, bitter politics, and poverty, despite the "progress".  Nevertheless, it is my motherland, a beautiful place for me.         


Shared with Poets United:   The Poetry Pantry            

Picture credit:  http://cristania.tumblr.com/post/11463023537