In the sudden silence of Ulhas
As I sat by the window, alone,
And turned the pages of Geetobitan,
Songs written, lay littered in monsoon melody,
Page after page before me —
Rain came, first in drizzle, then in force,
Pounded on window pane,
Two bulbulis, perched on the looping cable wire, looked up,
Flew away, amazed at rain fury, furry plumes drenched to their crests,
To the tree among trees, drooping, reined in by gushing rains.
Rose plants lowered their heads, buds washed away, beneath –
Flowers fell away in petals, red, ones and twos, bloodied the earth,
I hummed a song, tried to open the page, lay where the song,
Found out the page wet in rains, creeping in slants through the glass panes
Letters smudged in a line –
“I came here to receive the gift of Shravana.”