My baby sleeps
Dreaming of Wonderland.
My boy and girl weep
Cramped by burning pain.
My mother-in-law keeps vigil
Waving a weary fan
To soothe their dewy dampness,
Pushing back a wispy strand
From her bleary eyes,
Flinching from their fiery itch.
Her husband’s ashes have
Been conjoined with my
Husband’s, in water that
Races like death’s own chariot,
Galloping through the City
Having surfaced from earth’s
Bowels where it has churned
Through our well waters
And now invites the clouds
To join in this invidious war
Against a defenceless city
A reminder of that cloud which
Seeped into our unwary waking dreams
One December night
Contaminating my baby’s
Dreams of Wonderland
Forever.

(Written for Bhopal Fundraising event and published on Wordpower Books website)