the battle

my heart was in a battlefield today

defeat had touched my dreams

truth as i had always known it to be

writhed torn and begged to breathe

 

demons came raging from hidden caves

demolishing my faith, denouncing my dawn

mortal wound crushed my land as it lay

twined in my ambushed heart

 

then a sound came near from far away

so far it exceeds all my reach

and yet it was here, carried on another sound

whose decibel was finite

 

she hummed to me softly, her song languorous

wrapping in it truths that stay the siege

she sang without words to all that lay shattered

raising it to its immortal seed

 

the battlefield is here and it’s not yet done

her song is gentle, it’s all just begun

 

 

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

my mother used to hum often. hindi film songs, rabindrasangeet, thumris, gazals, atulprasad and nazrul’s songs. a few bars of a song in a movie promo on television this afternoon, reminded me.

 

 

indrani’s index