I pitched a tent
on a vacant plot
and waited
and waited
no one appeared
not a single soul
days went by
months went by
I flourished in the tent
I thought it mine
I swept it clean
I pasted broken pieces of marble tiles
at the entrance to make it like home
It was good, we felt at home
All five of us
Me, my wife and our children
My little girl brought more marble pieces of yellow
The boys brought red, green and a shade of mauve
They stuck it well, laughing as they did it
While she and I worked at carrying bricks
Up and then mortar and then much more.
We slept happy with pieces of marbles tiles at our entrance
Which was also our whole home
Then my girl brought home a small hibiscus plant
And my wife helped her grow with her children
“We are now six”, she said happily
When a little cat wandered in
My wife cried “oh, great we are now seven”
And she said how seven was a great number
Her father was seven when he got his first job
Cleaning toilets at the masters home
“And it was good enough for all of us
We had enough to eat and drink”
It was by then, all done,the home
Their home, outside which we had ours
Now they will move in
And we have to move out
To where they build new homes
So that we can pitch our tent outside
So that she and I can carry bricks, mortar and much more
She said, half jokingly,
“I like my home just near my work place
besides which construction labour ever got a nanny?”
Our children will now make it better
The piece of land where I will pitch my tent,our home
Till the work is done and then we move on
I know sometimes climbing up and down
I might just not return
Well, I know her well,my wife
She will pitch the tent, make a home and feed my children
Perhaps a new man will join her, perhaps not.