Poem

Tabish Khair

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Immigrant

Immigrant

Immigrant

It hurts to walk on new legs:
The curse of consonants, the wobble of vowels.

And you for whom I gave up a kingdom
Can never love that thing I was.

When you look into my past
You see
Only
Weeds and scales.

Once I had a voice.
Now I have legs.

Sometimes I wonder
Was it fair trade?

© 2010, Tabish Khair
From: Man of Glass
Publisher: Harper Collins, New Delhi

Tabish Khair

Tabish Khair

Tabish Khair (born 1966) is a poet, novelist and essayist. His significant poetry collections include Where Parallel Lines Meet (2000) and Man of Glass (2010). Born and educated in the state of Bihar, he worked in Gaya and New Delhi as a reporter with The Times of India, and later moved to Copenhagen where he worked on a PhD on “Babu Fictions: Alienation in the Indian English Novel”. He has rec...

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Poems of Tabish Khair

Homily

Nurse\'s Tales, Retold

Almost Sonnet

Amma

Immigrant

Rumi and the Reed

Close

Immigrant

It hurts to walk on new legs:
The curse of consonants, the wobble of vowels.

And you for whom I gave up a kingdom
Can never love that thing I was.

When you look into my past
You see
Only
Weeds and scales.

Once I had a voice.
Now I have legs.

Sometimes I wonder
Was it fair trade?

From: Man of Glass

Immigrant

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