will he remember?

Will he remember, friend? 

Where the curve of the parrot's beak 

holds a bright-lit neem 

like the sharp glory 

of a goldsmith's nail 

threading a coin of gold 

for a new jewel, 

 

he went across the black soil 

and the cactus desert 

 

Will he remember? 

 

[Allur Nanmullai, 'What She Said' Kuṟ 67, from The Interior Landscape: Classical Tamil Love Poems, trans. from the Tamil by A.K. Ramanujan]