In a flash I recall all the <br />misplaced objects of my life: <br />the ten lambent marbles <br />forgotten under the dry leaves <br />beneath the mango tree, <br />the umbrella left behind in Apu's saloon <br />the day rain failed to turn up, <br />the pen that dived from the pocket <br />while climbing the cashewnut tree <br />on the way back from the village school, <br />the sky-blue shirt remaining <br />in a hotel wardrobe in Riga, <br />the long list of books lent, never returned, <br />some unredeemed debts, a few unrequited loves. <br /> <br />Forgetfulness alone never forgot me. <br />As I fell in love I began misplacing my heart, <br />metaphors as I began to scribble poetry. <br />Later, looking at the hills, I began to feel <br />the sky had misplaced them and <br />the clouds had misplaced the rainbow. <br /> <br />I have recently begun to suspect <br />this very earth with us on it <br />has been misplaced by God. <br />In the order He recalls, He claims back: <br />woods, rivers, us. <br />2006 <br />(Translated from the Malayalam by the poet)<br /><br />Koyamparambath Satchidanandan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/misplaced-objects/
