The maelstrom
Of life
Which is
India
They wait
India
They wait
With every step
With every breath
With every thought
Unconscious
Inconsequential
Commitments
I live
In a state
Of commitment
A small man
Of no small mass
A big heart
A wise soul
Both worn
Close to the surface
There was to her
A tenacious spirit
She grappled despair
And brought it down
Smothering the darkness
Not so much with light
But with a glimmer
I thought it was hope
But it was trust
Not just the kind
Given to others
But the kind given to self
Given to circumstances
Given to time, and possibility
To touch
And be touched
By people
I may never see again
But who will forever
Change my world
I stop by her ad-hoc shop
Mapping my way home
In my mind
From here
A set of stairs
Like a hundred others
All along the the Ganga banks
For miles north and south
Except these stairs
Lead home, almost straight