Night

All day I searched, dear,

Unmindful of the scorching sun.

Walking through the crowded roads

peeping through the windows half open

I searched you, dear.

Then I ran across the paddy fields

braving pricks of sharp leaf blades

I know, you won’t come

to front the light of the day.

I returned home,

retired to my room,

lost all hope

and I was lost in thoughts boundless.

You slipped silently into my den.

(I didn’t notice it when)

The noise of dripping dews on leaves

I mistook for your gentle foot steps;

the flutter of nightingales

I wished it were the rattle of your bangles,

I woke up and my sleepy eyes

hurried in the darkness around.

You stood before me veiled in gloom

like a Muslim bride beside her groom.

But I saw a pair of starry eyes

peering through the cloudy blind.

I lay on my back

wide awake on my bed

your warm breath caressed my checks.

Fragrance of jasmine in night breeeze.

Your restless fingers ran madly

over my body.

Your gentle touch on my eye-lids

soothed me so much

that I droned into a blissful slumber.

I woke up in the morn

to find my embraces all in vain.

Running out of my room

I saw you running

beyond the western seas

spreading the long tuft of hair

to cloud the skies.

Night

every time I embrace you

I wish you wouldn’t be lost again.

But always you lull me to sleep

only to wake up and find

that you are gone

beyond the dimensions of my eyes!

(Image: Carkeek Park, Seattle, at nightfall. Source: Wikimedia)