A place as cold as the winter moon,

a road as gray as the mist.

That was the time when the moist leaves

dropped from the maple trees

gathered and swirled in the wind.·

and I reclaimed the peace

brought by a sudden kiss

of something that floated somewhere in the mind.

Places hold me forever close

and I let them be with me.

They brighten my way on a windy day.

The fragments of me scattered in the winter

come together;

I let them make me whole.

Sushama Karnik.