Well met, bright death!
My search is at its end,
these lingering years of pacing
the tight streets and crooked alleyways,
limping the temple precinct like
a daily beggar, peering,
ever gazing under hoods and shawls
and into faces – “Is it you?”
“Can it be this one?”
“Will the second stranger
that I meet today turn out to be him?”
An awkward peace that was
that shook the breath from me
as I grasped the squalling child,
a peace that told of turmoil,
swords, tumbled crowns, but also
of a tenderness so terrible
I trembled at the promise of it.
The mother seemed to know
just how I… only a girl
yet full of consolation.
Time for sleep.
