Kashi

How'd I ever write of anyone but you, O Kashi!
Lord Shiva, the destroyer of all desires,
How burnt he in his desire for return!
I too, with closed eyes come to you
And roam in the lanes I lived in-
A restless, haunter
Of my city,
My ghats, my and lanes and days with you.
My uncle, exile, he wept for his Kashi,
And told
“The man who loved you most
Was cursed to stay away forever.”
A curse, they say, is curse
When heart it burns.
The old curse fell.
This time,
On me.
The curse of living away,
Of never coming back
To you, O Kashi!