Yashodhara’s lament

A slight noise, and
Hope raises its eyes again,
Straining into the darkness
Beyond the awnings
Someone walks
Is that perhaps, you?
But no, alas! It’s not.
Hope that had raised its eyes,
Lowers it now.
Everyone comes back
Returns to their nests
Where be you, O charmed one?
Where be you?
Rest; I tell myself
let that blessed blanket
Of sleep fall,
Cover hope’s eyes.
Tomorrow, I shall see
Some other souls
Who smile at me,
Not utterly unkind
They will say again
That you will come
Back to me, back to us -
But I see not hope in their eyes
I see not hope, my lord
I dreamed once
That you and I walked
Together into the sunset
Hand in hand
It was not an impossible dream
Not oil on water
So easily moved with
A blow of the wind.
I was tied to you
And you to me
In the most unknot-able ways
And you undid it
When, I know not
But it was not the night
You left my side, I know
It was long before
And I never knew
When? How? Why?
I ask myself
Questions, reverberating
Through me and into the heavens
Like the hymns you
Now chant somewhere
I fear for me, O loved one!
I fear for us, and ours
Waiting in this gazebo
Night after night
I slowly come undone
At my hinges
I slowly come undone