It’s a tormenting night, tonight, as the lightning cracks over the skies of grey,

Flaked by the towering, withering trees and their branches in a tryst with heaven,

The wings of the birds as they fly away to nothingness, the vivid imagery of peacocks dancing,

The gusts of winds that slam and ricochet, as they wash away like the land by the miracle Severn.

A chasm separates the two pavements, promising a single chance, a single choice,

As the phenomenon of haunting beauty dances through the night,

It is the heaviness of a pounding heart, and the gasps of air lurid,

Narrating the story silently, of a hero devoid of valour or bravery, strength or might.

It’s a despondent wish, a futile attempt, a means to soothe the conscience,

Wouldn’t it be easier to have it in the spectrum of black and white?

Rather than the dashes of grey lingering on the sides, the specks of red splashed in the middle,

The monochrome and the kaleidoscope, waging war in the raging night.

It wasn’t one moment of sheer realisation, a strike of divine intervention, a spiritual beckoning,

The devil on the shoulder or the angel on the feet, their words spurring him on,

Make a choice, make a choice, they whispered in their silent screams,

Their faces twisted in miserable anticipation, as the cracks across the sky shone.

Steps lauded towards the divide, as the night increased the tempo of its fatal dance,

After months of stolen glances and clandestine meetings, this was the zenith; the pinnacle,

The birds and the peacocks, the blissful oblivion they shared; the tress, taunting and jeering,

All players of their game; the relentless fate and the merciless dominical.

The earth fell open as the chasms widened, the cracks on the lithe surface breaking apart,

As everything fell away into the depths of Mother Earth, her arms wide open to those who sought the embrace,

He had already made his choice, the dwindling mercurial high and the jaunting fall,

Gone beyond, nothing to look back, the ribbons of the finishing line draped across, as the aftermath of the race.

                                                                                         ~ Anantinee Mishra

                                                                                            New Delhi, India