you  smelt old paperback

with
every soft move ,
every laughter
you made,

every dot
every flower
every  frill
of your dress
astonished me,

it was when we walked handing hand
in the lonely street,
it was when you slept,
resting your head on my shoulder,
in a packed cinema hall
that your smell
rushed through my nerves
to paralyse me.  

in the evening of darkness
where you left me
at the junction of no hope,
i kissed the tip of the smell
your sari painted with chariots and kings
forgot to carry away.

yesterday night
I dreamt a hospital corridor
at the far end of it, you were sleeping with open eyes
you were guarding a body
which was connected to several machines
with tubes and wires…

when I shuddered and opened my eyes to a rainy morning
the room.was filled with the smell.of
old paperbacks...