The Dancing Lights

It is one of those evenings,

Marked by a 30-minute power-cut...

And I'm here on my terrace,

Loitering around, in a manner...

As nonchalant as the breeze,

That just flew past me...

Crouched atop the cemented pavement,

I gaze at the sights gifted to me...

The branches of the gigantic Banyan that sway...

The rustle that I hear,

From the flowing robes of the Teak and Deodars...

The lush foliage that gave the backyard,

Its entirety...

Now bathed in the soft moonlight,

Sprinkled by the half-crescent that peeped,

Out of those vapor-filled clouds...

Just then, I catch a flicker of light...

From the corner of my eye...

For a second, my heart leaps with joy!

That glow... Is it the same...?

What I'm thinking of...?

Perhaps it's just the light from the windows,

Of the apartments nearby...

That play peek-a-boo among the wilderness...

The glimmer of my hope begins to fade...

But rises again, like a phoenix!

'Cause now I see that flicker of light...

Hovering like an angel...

With a greenish glow burning bright...!

A firefly...!

She dances, to the rhythm of the monsoon wind...

A firefly...!

She sets alight, the sunless streets of my long-lost childhood...

And I feel my lips turning upward...

A sm

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ile, that radiates the warmth of my heart...

I now see her, as she skips and twirls...

The night sky, her stage...

The stars and the moon,

Spellbound, by her grace...!

She glides away and comes back...

Making a full circle...

As if calling out to me,

To come forward and see what she's got...

And I obediently let my gaze,

Follow her trail...

Lo and behold...! There, among the trees...

Trillions of them, just like her...

Shimmer like diamonds...!

I stand, motionless...

Enchanted by the spectacular show....

All I can seem to do...

Is mumble out a "Thank you..."

They don't seem to be content somehow,

For now, I see them all soar high...

Like the sparkles from a witch's wand,

Arresting me in absolute stupor...

Myriad patterns and forms they make...

Flaunting their elegant strides...

I stay-put, unable to leave...

Laughing like a little child...!

One by one, I now see them,

Retreat in to the shadows of the Dark...

The happy glow, grows faint...

Like lights switched - off forth a deep sleep...

I close my eyes and let out,

A sigh, of evident certainty...

As I come to know...

My dreams and desires...

Are like the fireflies...

That danced before me...

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