It’s here again,

sweeping through my life,

ripping apart jeans, books, kurtas, income tax returns,

wiping the grin

off the Bhairavnath mask

from the Thamel street shop.

Except this time

there will be no cut-and-paste,

no frantic attempt

to get the lines right,

check the silver, count the spoons.

There’s terror in the air

but as earthenware crashes

and something like flesh

blackens on the griddle,

I feel it –

the solar plexus lurch,

the shiver of guilt,

a mothwing flutter of authorship