The cold wafts into nostrils and out
as a damp sheen in Amsterdam.
It's loose-leafed October again, time spiralling
into sodden seepage;
Comfortable, the wind is not
whirling, uncalming canals,
riffling the emerald-streaked haunches of ducks
gently bugling along.
Next year, I will not be here,
but lost in another language, in a far eastern city
where concrete spills upwards, splitting
the sky — a different nirvana...
life longs for the lost, yet lusts
for adventure.
For now, there is pleasure in this koffie verkeerd
in taut fingers cupping heat
as the evening glows its dying chill.

Dipika Mukherjee is the editor of two collections of short stories from Malaysia and Singapore; The Merlion and Hibiscus in 2002, and Silverfish New Writing in 2006. Her poems have been published in Hong Kong, the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as broadcast over Singapore Public Radio. She currently teaches Creative Writing in Amsterdam.