So neat and tidy

I am broken into elements

of darkness that wander the night

as the shadow of a wolf. I am broken

into prayers that sing under the tongue

of the storm raging in the sea.

I am broken into the branches of peepul

that have stood under the rain all night

listening to the song of frogs. I am broken

into the many breaths of women

who have gone out into the desert

with feet smelling of sunset. I am broken

into dreams of death that shall arrive

in the gilded palanquin of my youth.

I am broken to the grains scattered

by the fields of forgiveness where

no one stops by. I am the longest day

on the breath of poems and the darkest

night under the eyelids of tomorrow.

---

Smitha Sehgal is a legal professional and a bilingual poet who writes in English and Malayalam. A Best of the Net nominee, her poems have been featured in contemporary literary publications such as Ink Sweat & Tears, Tokyo Poetry Journal, Osiris, Marrow Magazine, Acropolis Journal, Gone Lawn Journal, The Indianapolis Review, Almost Island, and elsewhere. She's the author of 'How Women Become Poems in Malabar' (Red River, 2023).