Bathroom Babel

My bathroom is a secure place With a little window to the world. A two-way window, to look out And to look within.

Water runs, chuckling, Washing away dirt; sins too. The resident spider sprints With a cockroach in its mouth. A gecko peers, scrambling As I sprinkle a little water at him.

A stage To enact my fantasies To practice a speech To sing a song To talk to my love Or imagine making love.

Outside, a spider squats in its web A cocoon hangs from a leaf A Koel sings, a Kingfisher shrugs A crow cleans its beak And a squirrel hops up the tree.

Farther, the world waits – Sharpening its claws Cracking its knuckles Gnashing its teeth – The world waits for me.

I hide in my bathroom Comforted by its damp coziness Peering out at the world Bracing to be eaten alive.

A buffer zone, a barrier Between banalities and bitter realities The bathroom determines What I am, what I like to be; And what I do not want to be.