Where Were You?

By Kalpana Manimohan

woeful evening, rain greets

a ride to calm, the soul needs

i turn my back to the setting sun

darkness come embrace me

travel without an end in sight

direction didn’t matter

petrol tank, eyes gone bankrupt

in the black my sanity gone

lost it entirely in my despair

energy spent, i grovel home

that should be solace 

but was reason for my ripped heart

“where were you till so late?”

“what’s the time, how irresponsible!”

he questions with audacity

barely twelve, he claims his authority

with the force of a hurricane

sucking with fortitude into his shield

in his calm of the eye he holds me

and in that right he asserts, i surrender

till i may one day discover my mind

in his innocence, i am twined

By Kalpana Manimohan