“Afterlife (Jaipur, 2008)” by Chloe Martinez (poetry, ’09)

An excerpt from “Afterlife (Jaipur, 2008)” by Chloe Martinez (poetry, ’09) published at Waxwing:

 

Afterlife

Agar Firdaus bar roy-e zamin ast,

hamin ast-o hamin ast-o hamin ast.”

          — couplet by Amir Khusrao

          inscribed on the tomb of the

          Mughal Emperor Babur, Kabul

 

If there is a paradise

we arrived, as if at the far bank

of a river, and sat on a cool verandah

upstairs among leaves and

more shady leaves

                                         on earth,

it’s not mango season, they keep telling us,

so I settle for mosambi, sweet lime, for now.

Every day I drink half, leave the rest

for you to finish

It is this,

our hotel used to be a haveli; the family

still lives in one wing, the women

veiled like proper Rajputs, like

ghosts, sweeping the courtyard

                         it is this,

we have no family here, observe no holidays,

and I have given up my phone. Our

life back home takes on the warm

glow, the softened edges of myth […continue reading here]