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author - translator - poet - academic
Next Time I See You
A writer reminisces
Anitha Devi Pillai
11 drafts later you arrived
fully formed in many ways
for my editor’s red pen
to shape and coax you into the light.
I see she dressed you in a ball gown too,
You lucky gal!
The next time I see you
I will be able to pick you up
and hold you in my hands
Inhale the woodsy pulp scent
and trace my name on your cover.
The next time I see you
You will be real.
You were made
to live in other homes
be held by other hands -
to be loved and cherished by others.
I pray they be kind to you, my love.
I will think of you every day -
for you were carved out of my soul
and fashioned in my mind -
albeit for nameless others.


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