Brown

Brown.

Ruefully she gazed
Brown kiss curls obliterated her
neat brows
Her grave eyes steady as the  earth
Steamy before the first tremor.

In time it came to punish and pull
At her face
Looking at her own distortion
In the railway carriage window
She looked out
Into green camaraderie far away.
Her mind wandered beyond
physical reach
Strength she prayed
for
She always prayed in strange moments,
With clenched teeth and knuckles.

Today she won.

Calm she arose from calamity
Beatific despite the
Beatings belted out
By life.
Flattened under fresh fearful
apprehension
She may later be
But this was not the day.

And got off at her station
Content, bending her head
In silent vote of thanks
Confident that in her
Walk of life
She was much too practiced
To falter.

A brief whiff of fresh air
Unsettling had offset courses
Once the wind died down
Memories
Had brought her
To her doorsteps.

Finally clutching her
Purse she knelt
Spending the loose change
Despair
Splashing pent up
sorrow upon the stoop
Fat drops greedy for comfort
Her refuge from far too many
Lashings of indifference.

Perhaps for some
this is all
Prayer is
Sending unabashed tears
Into Heaven.

(c) Amrita Valan 2015