milky way
  for TinkerBell
 
homeless
she comes home—
like two peas in a pod
we live the seasons 
of our lives together
 
for fifteen years
we chase butterflies
amidst the dahlias . . . 
fire consumes and only
her remains remain
 
            she's gone
             yet i feel   
         her presence
that nudge, that nudge again
 comforts this grieving heart
 
i am taught
not to grieve . . .
her walk across my hair
to drink water 
from the bedside table
 
moonbeams 
drizzle in
through the window . . . 
i light a ghee diya
in front of her picture
 
the clay pot
rests on my lap in the car . . .
onward we move
to the river flowing east 
that waits to embrace her
 
as the morning settles
over the river
i immerse her ashes . . . 
i cannot say when and where
this love begins or ends
 
          sunbeams dancing
   over the waters of the Yamuna
             join the horizon
      moving like my thoughts
 towards an unknown destination