across the wide compound,
while ayamahs showed off
their posh stolen sarees.
They’d looted our houses
when we fled for safety
and now we had come back
they thought it was funny
that Mummy wore housecoats
while they worked in silks
hung drying resplendent
in backyards.
The officers raided
our clothes from the wardrobe
Daddy spotted his groom’s suit
when he went for interview.
The hospital office housed
some of our furniture.
“The pants were too long
but the sofa fit fine”.
Eventually we got back
our armchairs and tables,
when Daddy dropped hints
that his family were seated
on floors with no tables -
they knew it was ours.
We caught the old turkey
across the wide compound,
but never got back
Mummy’s sarees.
(c) Charlene Rajendran 1999
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