Light

Lights burst forth in their thousand forms
I hide myself in a cocoon of emptiness
The festival of lights bursts forth in all its 
assumed glory
an aberration in its celebration.

Crackers define
the stories of wisdom
the miraculous victory of Durga;
of Krishna;
of all those wonderful Gods
and mindlessly
light bursts forth from 'rockets', 'flower pots'
Deafening sound in applause,
covering the stars, the moonlight in smog
The fresh October air, with its light chillness
in Chennai, 
rare and lovely with rains
now mixed with all those chemicals
with an acrid smell of smoke!

The mind contemplates symbolism
through an interpretation of fireworks
Leaves dry
Water cries
Birds disappear
Soil dies...
The silence  of what
we do not hear
deafens !
A beautiful festival
A powerful story
a misguided celebration
and a fragile earth!


A gentle light
flickers,
A lonely
firefly
passes by
I dream of
dreams that can change
and a star lit sky
within,
like jeweled rain
floods my
being!


And perhaps 
you too
share my cocoon
my emptiness
my star lit sky
my dream
and my Diwali!

Let's dream of
dreams that can change.
Meanings that can grow.
Celebrations that 
can embrace
the earth!


Flowers bloom
trees grow
mountains sing
and new light
floods my
being!