Five Years Ago...

They call it a festival of lights

Bah! If only they knew, any of them

The darkness of the night that follows

When the lamps die out one by one

And the burst of crackers echoes 

To sinister effect like a shot of artillery

And solitude returns to haunt one's soul

True joy is only half savored, never whole.

But it was five years ago when

Did a lamp so beautifully glow

Even more brightly than all the lamps

That simply sputter at the end 

That even as now it might possibly

Light up someone else's day

Its golden warmth still lingers

In the cold chambers of my mind

For it was no ordinary lamp, you see

Rather it took a very recognizable shape

Not even a bride's finery could rival

The garments that formed her attire

They were as green as secret envy

They roused in me an equally hidden desire

To take her slender frame in my arms

To surrender to her gipsy charms

Oh and that skin of hers, it shone

Not like any tasteless, acrid metal

But like honey dew shining on a gentle leaf

Limbs, the colour of earth, smeared all over

With the sparkling, shimmering dust of gold 

And her hair, oh, all a tumble like her veil

In the playful mischief that burns in her eyes

Oh how I long for that sight again

All around me is many a painted doll

Dressed all brightly, I agree, yes

But how they fail to illuminate the hall

Of my deepest affection, my secret thrill

Bah! If only one could find some way

To defeat this relentless, daily boredom

Oh, one has just too much time to kill!