The fervour of coming back,
and the inbuilt resilience
of the exiles,
to mould from the debris,
that was whatever,
that forced us back
ahead the end of war.
Even the coming back
to a defeated homeland
was enthralling,
we built tall dreams
en route,
clinging to mirages,
as though,
nothing came about,
and sought ways
to wipe out
the few months
between, the “coming” and “going”.
No person
talked on the way,
the spell of built-homelands
was persisting,
innumerable homelands
were built in the air.
Mini Babu is working as Associate Professor of English with the Dept. of Collegiate Education, Govt. of Kerala and now working at BJM Govt. College, Chavara, Kollam. Her poems have featured in anthologies, journals and magazines. Her collections of poems are Kaleidoscope (2020), Shorelines (2021) and Memory Cells (2022). Her co-edited collection of poems is Meraki (2021).
