Lovesick

Like the parched earth
in the summer of Indian plains
waiting for the first shower of rains
we look forward to your arrival
and count on every moment
of your company
here with us in our exile.
Your mother
rails at the suggestion
that some sick or needy
may seek your consultation,
and she would not let go
even a minute of your proximity,
for like a devotee
she likes to have her god
to herself completely.
There cannot be, in her view,
anybody more sick or needy,
if you understand
what lovesickness in exile means,
when there is nothing else
to fall back upon.