The long walk home

I’m out of tobacco
     Out of onions
The moon nudges past
Aldebaran tonight.

I’m out of dreams
  Out of songs
Venus will play
 in the Pleiades soon.

She clings to me
   I’m locked in her legs
Released when the nightmares
Are galloping.

I sneak out
  Navigate the darkness
On the tele I watch
   Migrants walk home.

One lies on the road
  Calls his family
Come and get me
   If you can.

Another drags
  Two tiny children
Her belongings balanced
  On her head.

For a moment
 She looks at me
I freeze
   And I bite my tongue.

   I read the unspoken
  In her eyes—
When will you begin
   The long walk home?

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Salil Chaturvedi
salilwheels@gmail.com