Nina's Room

He cannot forget how Nina looked,
Standing in the top floor window,
Her chin resting on her hand.

When she appeared there
He’d rush upstairs to meet her.
She would greet him at the top of stairs

And lead him to her room.
Neat, clean, an extension of herself.
Two mattresses on the bed side by side.

White linen sheets with floral patterns,
Pink and blue in hues.
A lamp on the table beside her bed.

Poetry books of Bashir Badr, of Kaifi Azmi
Covered with recyclable paper and petals
Of dry flowers earmarking some pages

Or some verses underscored in pencil.
A plastic chair in one corner.
A small book rack in another.

Heaps of neatly stacked papers.
Lots of sharpened pencils in a jar
And a bag that had a white Khadi shirt for him.

A pair of rubber slippers indented with her
Two-and-a-half toes lay at the foot of her bed.

--after Rahul Pandita