Yere yere pausa

Come to me rain,

let the drops percolate,

collect in plastic tubs

drained through pipes

made of dreams and denim

Tula deto paisa

I’ll pay you

with upturned faces

and wet laundry

put out to dry

to taunt the

yellow mellow sun

Paisa zhala khota

The money was false

Fake coins jingling

against my pocket

that held lint

and a stray leaf

and two packets of Polo

Paoos aala motha

But still you came rain

heavily

breaking tiles and

glass ceilings

with your shards of glass

no, diamond,

reflecting and refracting

there are rainbows in your eyes

Ye guh ye guh sari

Shower of rain, come here

drip onto my nose

and fall into my car,

run across my palm

scurrying drip drops

Majhe madki bhari

Fill my pots with rain dear

Uproot saplings,

Tender, rootless

take them away from here

from me

take them to the forest

replant them

bury them beneath red earth

let them grow

in fields of sugarcane

leaving the water here, for me

Sar aali dhaoon

Your shower came running

sprinting across tar roads

dodging cyclists, bikers

and holes in this tar road

you ran up hills

slipping through plastic bags

and dark playful puppies

trying to stop you,

borrowing your time

but you ran to me

to my  house on the hill

and burst in through the metal grille

Madke gele vahoon

My pots were washed away

I believed in you rain

but you came, you saw,

you took what I loved

but I lied too

I promised payment,

misty fog

rivers made of paper boats

and I gave you nothing

I am sorry

*The poem is loosely translated from a Marathi nursery rhyme whose original lines are retained as first line of each stanza, followed by its translation and the rest contributed by the author.