Sunday 13 January 2019

Shaken, not stirred





Over familiar, she leans close, and whispers
as the steam rises from my cup,
‘You babble a lot about death and winters
but sometimes you’re forced to shut up.’

Early morning in the park the crowd is thin
just she and I at my old bench,
the clank of garbage vats, the year’s beginning
with the same noise and urban stench.

‘You can write it lofty when it is just you,’
she smirks, though her lips remain grim,
‘all immortal bravado- what will you do
when it’s not you but it is him?’

The coffee goes cold, and the day, between us.
Overhead a birdsong shrills, a branch shivers.





A rocky start to my 2019 - first a medical emergency in India with my mum on Christmas Day for which I had to travel back, then upon return, another visit to the ER here in Bahrain on account of my husband- scared totally witless! 

Both parties out of hospitals now and recovering at home. Truly grateful for the outcomes and the timely interventions, prayers and support from friends and wider family. 

Hope to be a little more regular with blogging and online life once the offline one teeters back to (the new) normal.  The cup may have gone cold for the moment, but thankfully, I'm being allowed the option of reheating. Staying positive and writing it as it comes, when I can. 















14 comments:

  1. I am so very pleasedthat both your loved ones are in recovery mode. I have spent too long in the world of medical mayhem and know how exhausting and scary it can be.

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  2. Hari OM
    There were two such emergencies here (different relations, but scary nonetheless). Something about this time of year makes it that much more stressful - or is that just fanciful of me? So glad you and yours are coming out the other side of this. We'll appreciate you all the more when you are here! YAM xx

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    1. Ya, anything unhappy coinciding with festive makes the contrast starker. Thanks for being here.

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  3. I'm sorry you had to go through two scares like that! May both continue to recover.

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  4. Wow - glad your 2019 is now on the mend - for your loved ones, and also for you. Keep that cup hot and take good care of yourself, for their sake. That poem gave me a shiver.

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    1. Me too ditto - still a bit shivery. Thanks for your wishes, Joanne.

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  5. Oh, I'm, sorry, I read this a few days ago and thought I'd already commented. I hope everything is okay now with all concerned. Not a great way to start the New Year, unfortunately.

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    1. Yes, thank you, everyone's out of hospital now. Super scary start to the year.

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  6. That's a rough start to the year! Hopefully everything is on the mend.

    www.ficklemillennial.blogspot.com

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  7. Love the poem!

    Happy New Year, Nila!
    I'm so happy to read that your loved ones are on the mend and that life seems to be back on track.
    Take care!

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    1. Happy New Year to you too, Michelle. Glad you liked the poem.

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