The streets of Seville keep
their best secrets hidden in the dark
cobbled paths wind in stillness
I wonder where all the dancers have gone
cafes and restaurants throb with the pulse
of a late night soiree
the candles have burned down to stubs
but the servers will not turn out the night
until platters of paella and pitchers of sangria last
I ask where I might find a tablao,
to be charmed and mesmerized
taking directions, I walk into the soft beam
of streetlights through the tangled sleeping town
on the other side
it is so quiet—
what is tucked behind the old buildings
in a walled courtyard I can barely glimpse?
I walk inside—
ensconced in a shell
of darkness, burns the fire
of a woman, her back finely arched
she is attired in a ruffled gypsy dress
her voice reaches
into the desert…………
the man with the guitar plucks on strings—pulling me inside
I have arrived.
© Neetu Malik
in moonlight's soft sheen I bare all that I am it's the sun's harsh rays that send me scurrying into dark caves and crevices where I am enveloped in the shell worn and roughened through years and tread of time's wheels, cracked by aches and maladies with marks etched deep in my self © Neetu Malik
I try to find words for war how it wrecks, how it feels but there is no language I find to reach that space inside me to define the terror give utterance to grief why war when there is no winning when there is only loss and losing no matter which side you're on © Neetu Malik
I will weave you garlands of dazzling wisteria twine the flowers with stems of love growing from roots seeded strong and deep where the ground stays warm and evergreen. © Neetu Malik Poem written for my children, 2019.
why love?
no one knows but
everyone does
why hurt?
no one knows yet
everyone does
love hurts
but it’s the only thing
that heals the hurt
that comes from loving
and giving your all even
when it hurts to love
because without love
there would be no
us
© Neetu Malik
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We hope you enjoy these holiday gifts.
More info →A rash Christmas Eve quest to save a young woman lands a Baron’s daughter in the lap of a jaded Viscount…and he’s not letting her go.
More info →A Slice of Orange is an affiliate with some of the booksellers listed on this website, including Barnes & Nobel, Books A Million, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. This means A Slice of Orange may earn a small advertising fee from sales made through the links used on this website. There are reminders of these affiliate links on the pages for individual books.
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