INTERLUDE

A bubble forms...
A haze takes shape from the smoke.
A lazy air of content creeps in ...
as one half-listens to the scraping of plates,
the stilted attempts at conversation.

The smoke swirls around one bringing along with it
snatches of conversations.
One is only partly aware of the surroundings,
Eyes take on a dreamy look as the rain
pours incessantly outside.

Then, suddenly the noises cease.
The smoke clears.
There is the scraping of feet against the clean floor.
The spell is broken.
The reverie carefully packed up as a golden memory,
A brief interlude amidst a crowded tension filled day,
The bubble bursts.

- Srividya Srinivasan
July 1996