mother, delirious,

her womb dreaming rainbows

on a borrowed charpoy.

father, scared

clutching an old typewriter,

he types almonds, honey, milk.

he climbs the typewriter's keys

as if they were stairs to reach gods of prosperity

mother, screaming,

will eternity or anything justify this pain?

a tubercular lightbulb.

the floor covered with mothdust.

birth.

butterflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies

jhelum, lahore, muridke,

one must belong if one can.

the jackbooted laughter of teachers.

myths of beginnings, middles, and beginnings.

in the storied universe,

grasshoppers do not die, they become songs.

childhood.

grasshoppers die. stories end.

learn to cope,

learn to cope,

learn to cope.

butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, dragonflies do not live on wishful thinking.

adulthood.