The Earth loves the first ray of light that falls
upon him each morning more than any other light.

She is the first ray, the only one.
Day has its beauty but nothing pleases the Earth
more than the first moment when Abha takes his hand.

What a risk to take for love?
Five thousand miles and a failing marriage,
a cat’s cradle of ties holding her there.

Moving with the sunlight as it tracks his face
he is the world under her; without each other
there is only darkness and bare rock.

What did the Earth know before
the first ray of light of the morning?
That darkness was all and forever.
His hardness, the absence of life.
A cold dream of a star.
The meaning of being untouched.

What did the light know before
she reached out to take Earth’s hand?
Pure speed through endless darkness.
No reflection of herself in the mirror.
A cold dream of a distant Earth.
The meaning of not touching.

From Chandigarh to Manchester
for a man she only knows by heart
            – the imagined city of love.
Imagine a city without light,
or the light without a city.
How small the world of the heart?

The world has conurbated,
it’s a small world they say.
How large the world is
when travelled for love,
when we count the hours
and the miles lived without it.