TAPESTRY

Unfinished...
the tapestry has skipped
a knot on March 4, 1997
and each thread hung limp
as it cannot cling
and bond together
the dream.
Lost forever...
thirty eight intricate knots
gingerly and painstakingly tied
to bind and bond and gel
to reach
a high
a bliss!
I cannot in my misery
vision the dream,
It is lost in a misty haze.
The tapestry lay in a lifeless heap.

Frostbite
(based on an incident in a port of entry almost ten years ago)

I felt my first frostbite
one balmy day in September 1996
in a cramped port of entry
in Minneapolis... and I shed tears!

The hawk-eyed, eagle-nosed inspector
leafed through my pocketbook,
scrutinized every crease and fold that held
the lifeline to a strange new land.

With a cynical smile from the
curling bemustached mouth,
the iron-hand of power
pricked where it hurt most!

Not for a moment did he read
the confused emotions,
the frightened look.

Not for a second did he feel compassion!
All that he imagined was a nod of triumph,
A vulture over a prey!
Oh! I shivered at that first frostbite
that one balmy day in September!