Poetry

Rajasthan Rapunzel

You’re everywhere

you raven-haired

Rapunzel of the

East. I’ve watched

you wash your glorious

hair and let it down

to dry from flimsy

balconies above the teeming

streets

I’ve glimpsed you

bent low over tubs

in dim lit rooms

and by the village pump

or hunkered down

on river banks

your graceful neck

pulled low by whips

of streaming hair.

I’ve caught you in a flash of light

in hovel doorways half ajar

where

you still braid

your lustrous hair

and smooth your shining crown

but alas these days a gallant prince

is nowhere to be found.

December 2005

First published in “Journeys” Eden Waters Press, 2009