secret languages

What could these small, black
marks, so strangely drawn,
mean to anyone?
Could they be the silent
swirls of snowflakes
trying to reach the earth,
still naked from winter?
Are they the smell of incense at the old,
old temple that was hid within
folds of crumbling rocks by
the gods themselves?

An old man sat outside,
begging for alms.
His were eyes that could not
see mine as I peered at him
with mine; yet adolescent eyes.
Could he have seen the silent
swirls, the snowflakes falling
gently to the ground?
Would he wish to see the
white snow, almost as white as his hair?

Maybe that is why I come searching for you,
maybe you will want to see the snowflakes,
maybe you will say you see the snowflakes
when you see these small, black
marks, so strangely drawn
on this white sheet, almost
as white as the old man’s hair.
Do you want to see the old man
who sat outside the temple,
begging for alms,
his hand
holding a steel bowl,
empty but for a few coins,
a few rupees,
his chest bare, a thread running from shoulder
to waist, the ribs easily counted,
his legs protected by a thin
dhoti, his beard long and silver,
eyes framed by furrowed lines,
the gifts of years?

But would you
be able to see the cracks in the skin
around his fingers, clutching the bowl
for dear life?
I would show you him
but I cannot draw
very well.
These odd turns of black
create sounds in my head
and make me think
but they are not
silent swirls of snowflakes
trying to reach the earth,
still naked from winter.

Maybe I could talk of other
things –
leave the images for
painters and
cameras.
Maybe I could tell you about myself,
maybe I could describe my childhood,
the games I played,
the thoughts I thought,
the tantrums I threw and the toys
I liked.
Maybe I could tell you about
my mother,
father,
or those afternoons I spent
dreaming of imagined lands.

But I know you would not see
the places I saw as I flew over the world sitting
in my favourite armchair
for these odd turns of black ink
are not the spires
that rose from deserts full
of deadly scorpions and scarabs.