The tomato garden

By: 

Aishwarya

Khale

The poem is a rendition of what grieving may be like for a young girl whose partner she truly misses during the lonely time which was an inevitable outcome of the lockdown.

Early July; we bought a DIY plant to save our relationship, or as the games on his computer would proclaim – new stage initiated/ Our commitment animal; sprayed soil, with a blend of cold water and chemical fertilizers/ did not wear my gloves or cut my fingernails, five polka dotted pots sat by the corner in my balcony/  Gently place the seeds, regularly water the plants, decorate them with little lights/ Small as a red ribbon in my palace of innocence/  I lay dreaming, of your body, holographic, scouting around our living room/ Walking- blue pyjamas, sleepy eyes/ Is it his suffered atrocity you hear in me, or the voice of losing sanity; Raging, raging / Swaddling through, the great outside asleep, months of loneliness draining into my pillow / A two person monologue at 3:00 AM, words of support for the red tomato kingdom, brimming in the moonlight, little poppy, tiny Ivy- filling the pot/ Without him the spirits beggared/ The restrictions losing, the bells sways in the wind, an engraved root, growing, stealthy, sits on a balcony, watching the lonely passer-by walk/

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