Spirit messages joined At the ends on the wall Over which rain-washed Sunlight makes it morning

Journey - their slight diff- rences the way tenderness Toward the lovers differs, Like a dish baked over

And over, with different Shakes of salt and pepper

• those obscene yet urgent Murals scrawled on urinal

Walls, breasts and penises and The traffic of adolescent ardor - "A loves B", "wanna suck C's boobs", "my dick is bigger than E's"

• and surprise that the heart's Snarl after these many years Of adulthood isn't much different!

Stanza, in Italian, means room, And volta - the turn

Of pleasure that comes from Watching Radhika as she puts on

shoes like anklets, and looks up to find him watching her dark eyes,

shaded green and sienna under the bird-lit stanza of cotton trees.