The heat was alive,
Smokily swirling around me.
Feral, fetid, beastly
Tongues of fire darting out
Licking hungrily.
Raging at being trapped
In the heavy, dark net,
The sky had lowered
All else was still.
Hushed in anticipation.
Distant and faint, few notes
Of a flute wafted in the gloom.
Musings of hope?
Hundreds of verdant eyes
Look upwards
Praying, perhaps, to live.
Nary a chirp nor a buzz.
The very creatures of the air and grass
Are holding their breath.
Waiting
For the curtain to rise.
For the Act to begin.
Unheeded creeps in a tiny breeze,
Front stage.
Her only garment, a cool scent.
Winding her way through fern and fauna,
A touch here, a whisper there,
Waking a trail of quivering senses.
It is the signal,
For the first orb to sail down
And splatter on the fissured floor.
The parched Earth swallows deeply.
And the chorus commences.
More and more glittering diamonds,
Hit hard,
Bringing the dust down, to lie
In a spreading dampness.
Its anger quelled, 8
The heat allows itself
To calm into a humid vapour,
Switches the furnace off.
Gathering the fire into its bosom,
Each pearl drop melts,
Breaking into a thousand droplets,
Releasing salivating salvation.
The leaves lift their heads
To the amorous frolic of the Rain.
Green stems now dip shyly, now raise
Their lips to another kiss.
Fur, feather, and flesh 11
Spread their hands to gather,
To soak in the delicious silver liquid,
Quenching ageless thirst.
Speedily, the dancing spheres
Change into a diaphanous veil.
And from its depths,
Breaks forth the symphony.
Crashing cymbals rise to a crescendo,
Then descend, to the melancholy
Wail of a violin,
Accompanied by flickering strobes.
A melody that entwines my racing pulse.
Molten arrows assail me,
My skin tingles.
Strange sensations crawl ‘neath it,
Never known before.
Startled, I feel the onslaught of Life throbbing,
Through me, filling me, flooding me
Beyond all conscious thought.
Just as the Rain drowns the Earth
In timeless, limitless Love
Beyond desire, beyond fulfilment.
All Rights Reserved. Copyright@Sutapa Basu, 2015
