Telugu Song

There we sang our love song

Twins bound by destiny,

Resting both our heads on arms

of life, dear life, as precious 

As paramecium, amoeba,

Redwood trees, Brahminy kites.

And therein we sowed

Lies that kept us alive 

Water, air, that deep blue 

sky, all but real, a screen 

Perhaps for what lies

Deep inside you and me

Then they sent us to earth

But when we fell from those stars

Your flesh was made in another's 

Womb. My heart beat to a strange

Rhythm. In time, screens and frames

Made me a different you. 

Our forgotten song smudged 

by stardust, buried in oceans' roar 

Caroused through my veins, your

nerves. A stranger's sigh, another's 

Nimble limbs: all these and more, 

Echos of a past that screamed to live 

One afternoon, 

one evening 

and one full night,

dear twin, we hummed

that sweet telugu song 

Lo, we were alive