AN ENCOUNTER

 An Encounter

And one evening
sitting on the threshold I saw
a flame,, a torch,.
inside the walls of a lantern
approaching fast
as if on the winds,
a storm-borne, storm-blown lantern
in sheathes of dark.
The lantern was coming
tossed on the storm on the wintry wind,
and I took alarm.
It was surely aimed at me,
to strike, to blow me out.
Before I could flee inside my abode
the lantern came and transformed into a man,
spouting venom
like the tongue of a dragon
intent to kill.
The dark that shrouded the lantern
was no longer dark;
the cover blew.
Inside was everything that was burning yet
and wanted to burn
all that the dragon could ever catch to destroy.
And why me of all,
when all I recall having said to one
was: "Shed light on all;
do not burn, do not scald!"
That was no time ,
no moment of encounter
that could transform
a raving man, a foul tongue.
A time to disappear and walk away
to another realm,
another world and another time
where dragons do not roam about to kill

 Image credit : Fabien Todescato

A STRANGE DREAM

A strange dream it was;
a strange congregation they were,
a group of people heading for the north
and I among them :
a barefoot, barebreasted mother,
an infant suckling at my breast.
They never stared at my nakedness,
since the rigours of the journey and the challenges
 had cleansed them all.

And just as we were nearing the goal
and bracing ourselves
for the last test of endurance,
I heard,
 you,heading for south, had camped for awhile
on the other side of the road.

Barefoot and barebreasted though I was,
I rushed across.
You were not alone; you were isolated.
They, the barbarians were haranguing you
for your heresies
and pronouncing death as I entered your camp.
But before I could comprehend,
their eyes fell on me :
I standing at their door,
barefoot without a cover on my breasts,
frantic to reach out to you.
It was not a sight that lured them;
it was another proof of your sacrilege.
I saw their meaning as they glowered at me viciously.

I stood stunned, suddenly conscious of my bare breasts and empty hands,
and my alienness above all.
I could neither cross over nor turn back.
At that moment I suddenly knew the meaning of the body as shame;
a body, my body, suddenly seen from an alien eye:
it turned into a mass of unenhanced physicality.

The meeting of our eyes in that moment of trauma
was more than what they could understand
in their reproachful piety.
Before they could reach me in my vulnerability
you moved forward and threw a shawl of yours,
and in a split moment wrapped me around and retreated to their side quietly

THE UNICORN

THE UNICORN
In the sepia dusk
the unicorn comes to speak,
the twilight shadows lighten up
every retreat,
the corridors, the trees,
the birds in the nests
and the mind at rest
quietly stirs.
The unicorn shakes
the unreal horn
carried painfully on its crown.
Fabulous Unicorn,
you are no myth;
in the evening breeze
nothing could be more real
than a Unicorn,
its wings and the horned brow,
the illusions and the reality.

PEACE IN WAITING

Watch the path
keep a vigil on the farthest sign
I am on the way.
Keep a prayer in the heart for me
I may need it on the way.
Keep the door of the house open
I may come any day.
With a longing and a dream I rush along
Stand in the doorway wait for me
with a greeting in the heart and a blessing on the lips
wait for me, I come. Till then walk in the light, the only peace
that is found in the waiting for love

Sometimes You Do

Sometimes you do want to, need to,
let go of the light,
sink in the night and dream.
The brightest of dreams
wake up when you sink.
Dreams that stare you vacantly
in the dark are the signs
that you are waking up
to the light
that is all your own,
neither taken, nor borrowed,
neither given, nor extracted.

The light comes from the soul trampled underfoot
the weeds and the seeds
both together
and yet the seeds have the temerity
to raise their heads and move towards light,
your own light.

Image: courtesy : Anna del Vale Marti



 · 

TWO MADMEN

Two madmen sailed on rafts
their faces shone in the lantern-lights,
They did not have to look up and dream;
they looked straight ahead.
It was worse or weirder still,
for they sailed backward towards the rocks
It was darkness, darkness, breaking into light
and something guarded them in their flight.
Perhaps they saw in darkness
the things they had failed to see in light.
Now they thought they could look up and dream
because there was someone behind
who was looking straight ahead.

Light would be lonely without darkness;
who else would be waiting for it?

Thank you +Anna .a and +Amin

Amin originally shared:

 

THE THINGS I DROPPED

As the shadows migrate and the whistle of the wind stops
the search in the grass
for the things I dropped
in the clumsiness, unforgivable hurry,
all that panic
begins to swallow me as the evening swallows the day.
I grope in the dark for someone's hand,
a metaphoric silence half reveals, half veils
my fears of losing once again and for all,
the things I dropped in the hurry.