written in Lodi gardens, Delhi, on 18th December 2008

Everywhere in Delhi someone is sweeping;
women and men with long fibre brooms sweep
pavements, walkways, paths and
beneath the trees or over the grass
with long twig besoms;
they clear the water-channels and allow
hoses to seep upon you silently like snakes;
indoors there are boys who continually swish to and fro
with long-handled mops across halls and corridors
along verandas.

Is life a path that must be swept
each day of each day’s concerns
afflictions, ill-omens?
At first I thought it obsessive, but now
I see this leisurely brushing as
peaceful, rhythmical, tender, needful.
It prepares the way:
let me not sweep it aside.

Tessa Ransford is a CHE fellow and former tutor. Her latest book of new and selected poems, Not Just Moonshine, is available from Luath Press, and her website is www.wisdomfield.com.