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[atiguhya padma]

Her face hung heavy
Like an Easter Island statue.
She fell to the floor
A supplicant.
Her mind, once the mind
Of Ozymandias,
Now her eyes
See with Shelley
The ruins of her world.
Like a recumbent stone
She crumbles and flakes
Her tears frame fissures
Down her cheeks
And her sorrow
Hovers like a buzzard.

Lean on me awhile
To gain a little strength
And gather up your reserves.
The journey is long
Longer than you could imagine
And the view is dark
Overcast with a greyness
That covers the horizon.

Hollow spaces
Collapse.
You draw me close
Your arms surround me.
Words seem useless.
What can be said
By a voice like mine?
That you will find solace
In some hidden kingdom?
That you will find the love
Of an unseen heart
That will watch over you
Wherever you are?
That you will meet again
The one you loved so well
In a place without suffering?

All I could have said to you,
Was that dying and death
May teach us
That life is love itself
And one should love all of life,
Its wonder, its beauty, its ambiguity,
And that the greatest love
That any life can give
Is that love which has the strength
To let go.

But I enclose it in my mind
And simply hold you close,
Feeling the warmth of your skin
And the softness of your tears.