HIV Positive
by
Rita Malhotra

a sunless universe bent double
under grief-jammed clouds
twigs fall off the broken nest
from the farthest branch of
life’s desolate tree.
wicked winds scatter them
like straw in the wind
thoughts take shelter
in the dark cave of solitude
the last drop of a lacerated existence
rolls out,
a stranger to the hostile world
life crosses yet another tedious milestone
across the smouldering debris of love.

published in the the Long Islands Anthology
,2009