Maggie Tulliver

​I have traced all the patterns of your gloom,
Hanging in spaces between summer and doom.
I have seen you, silently swallow your pride,
And watched you, in defiance, stubbornly hide.
I have felt the ‘painful collisions’ of your life-
The tug of war between inward and outward strife.
I have heard the mourning of your inconsolable heart,
When you and Philip, somberly, decided to part.
I have touched your loneliness, as you sat by the Floss,
Besieged and stricken by an overwhelming sense of loss.
Your steps, by the Dorlcotte Mill, have resonated often,
Your sighs have scorched me like the blazing sun.
You have waded in the depths of my brimming heart,
And sometimes, I have also woken up, with a start.
I have felt the swirling waters lock into my feet,
And like you, succumbed to the connivance of defeat.
When in the deluge, you were ruthlessly tossed and hurled,
I have also felt the comfort of drifting into another world.
© Jaspreet Mann