Banaras

Entwine yourself with me, for I have no words.

You speak to me of empty streets and wailing widows,

Concrete, death, pigeons and pyres.

Rising flames; the quest for the phoenix,

All we see is the grey: ash, stone, you, me.

We stand, made statues by the crowd,

lovers stilled in a frame,

And I think

of you

an artist dissolving paint in water

of children playing in the sea

silhouetted by the sun

And all of a sudden the clamour:

giggles, chatter, tears.

The sounds of being

Undone again, we are

Frozen no more.