ACQUATIC

That April night
the kindly moon was delaying to rise.
In voltage drop
the starry illumination was blinking dim.
Down the river
darkness flowed, bubbles burst ripping silence.
Daring darkness, dear,
had we not sat down in knee deep water?
Water and your hair
Had flowed over my shoulders.
The ripplets
Had fondled my cheeks with kisses warm.
Scratchy crawl
Of slight shrimps or of your finger nails?
Tiny fishes
Whose sharp toothing was pleasantly painful.

I plunged into mid-river
dragging you along.
You feigned fright,
and grasped me tight;
an octopus agilely
pressed suckers firm.
still stayed swimming
against the river flow.

Thiruvananthapuram
15.5.1989

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