CONVERSATIONS IN A CAR IV
Ashok Niyogi
As you stepped out of the car
We were almost done.
Your perfume, my after-shave
In the elevator,
We were almost done.
I knew I could not live without you,
You know you have me in your destiny.
It all happened in the elevator,
After my soliloquy in the car,
And then we took a cab
To Moskovsky Vagsal.
And in the cab
You shamelessly ruffled the hair on the nape of my neck
And there was certainly no conversation in that car
Except my saying “Honey, don’t!”.
Why did we take a cab, I wonder though,
When we had two drivers warming their hands in the snow.
What were we hiding?
Had we done something wrong?
And then you made me carry,
My bags and your bags
And almost lost a lover before you had found one.
No, it was not Moskovsky Vagsal;
The first time we went to St. Petersburg,
We flew, because we had to reach before we had to reach,
And the carpet in the cabin of the Peterhoff
Was destroyed by you.
In those first days we hardly talked to each other,
We had things to do,
To grope and touch and feel and heal.
You had to get used to the cotton wool in your ears
Because of my snoring;
I had to get used to being in love.
You had to get used to being in love.
