Do you know, I often wish,
I had a hermit’s cell for dwelling,
Where I could drift away,
From days’ dust and nights’:
Empty spaces?

And in this new life,
Like an invisible dot,
I could sit inside the cell,
Away! Away:
From the din of this tormented world.

When day approached,
I would no longer lose,
The power of peace upon me;
When night returned:
The sun would shine upon my dithering soul.

Do you know, I often wish,
I had a hermit’s cell for dwelling,
Where I could drift away,
From days’ dust and nights’:
Empty spaces?

Dubai
12 January 2010

Geeta Chhabra

From the book: An Indian Ode To The Emirates by Geeta Chhabra