The American Scholar

Five Poems

Dining With Naipaul's Sister

Amber accord of Shalimar arrived before her
into a room set like a scene from Scheherezade:
Oriental rugs, brass lamps mantled with jujube glass.

She entered slightly out of breath, one end of a silk
sari afloat behind her, embraced my sister,
called her dear friend; me, she was pleased to meet.

She could have been playing the part of a princess in an epic set in some grand Mughal palace. Her bracelets streamed light when she proffered

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