The seeds of this
poem were sown when we, once in a while, would be travelling in bus from Indore
to Khandwa (or vice-versa) on our way to Calcutta (or back to Indore, as the
case may be) for our holidays (or back to school after holidays)......
Early
in my life I made a discovery
while
travelling I would observe
and
feel.....
that
in the nights
the moon followed me.....
While
I travelled
the
moon
rode with me,
first gliding smoothly.....
then
bouncing over bumpy stretches,
now
on the right,
then straight ahead
the
silver light
washing over
dry grasses in open fields,
streaking
along through black branches
finally
disappearing
as
the road
winds
its way
through the hills.
When
I crest the hill
There
it is
again
suddenly grown
immense
ripe
flooding
the town
with sprawling light
so
magical !
I
Finally
Begin to understand
Why
it is said
to inspire
‘looniness’
It
is then
that
I realise
how much we sometimes need
the magic
and
romance
of moonlight
- a light
that is nothing
like the hard glare
of the sun that it reflects.
Moonlight
softens our faults
all shabbiness
dissolves
into shadow
It
removes
the myriad details
leaving
only
the sharp outlines
and
highlights
and
brushstrokes
– the fundamental shapes of things.
I
stare
transfixed
in the soothing,
restorative glow,
bouncing
my ambitions
hopes
and plans
off this great reflector.
I
dream
my
dreams
examine
the structure of my life
and make
considered decisions.
In
a hectic confusing world
it
helps me
to step out
into a quiet,
clear,
swath of moonlight
to
seek out
the fundamentals
and
eschew
the incidentals.
Years
later,
one day,
my little nephew
burst breathlessly
through the door
led
me out,
coatless and shivering
the
gravel
crunched underneath our feet,
from
somewhere
beyond the nearby lake,
the plaintive calls of the birds
drifted through the air
and
died away.
Past
the row of trees,
that
line the road
to the lake,
the
sky
opened up
with
the full moon
on it,
suspended
so
precariously close
that
it might be
hurtling towards us
- incandescent,
even
larger
and more breathtaking
than I had ever seen before
climbing
its motionless climb
over
the molten silver
of the lake.
Even
a five year old could see
this
was
not just the moon
it
was
The Moon !!
When
I turned around
he
was
grinning,
expectant,
studying
my face intently
to
see
if he had
pleased me.
He
had.
I
knew then
that
the
Moon was following him too !!!!!
