I had fallen in love with her at first sight
a six year old with eyes
moist with dewy tears
she stood among the other whining kids,
picked up from the compost heaps of life
her slight brown hair was tied
at the back into a ponytail.

in her torn pink frock and delicate frame,
she looked a fading rose.
on her face was the pain of desertion
with no Dad or Mom to kiss away the tears
or hold her close to the heart

the building with its cracked walls
had an aura of ruin about it.
everything, so shabby and stinking
and it was there that I met her

but among the many, locked up like caged birds
why did I single her out?
may be her cute look and seraphic innocence
made her so special!
even after I had left that place,
my thoughts kept returning to her
and I decided on making her happy somehow

the second time I went there,
i carried some knick knacks
and some sweets for the children to munch
also a parcel colorfully wrapped and tied with a ribbon
when I called her aloof
and handed that small gift,
i watched the twinkle in her little eyes

as she opened it with fumbling hands
curiosity peeked on her face and eyes
finally, when I took out the glossy frilled frock
she squealed in delight and clapped her hands.
saw her face aglow with excitement and joy.

into her bleak world I let out a flash of delight!

I wish I were transported to a world of pure fantasy
Where life is far removed from all harsh reality
Where one can roam like a bodiless spirit, weightless
Like a floating, drifting feather to escape all banality

Become an entity like an alien from another planet
Reside in an ethereal realm where no physicality exists,
A fairy land where the sun never rises nor sets
A world where beauty surrounds and all wonder persists

Reality is a tether where one is perennially tied
I pray..carry me to the world of fantasy on wings of poesy
Where I can indulge in pleasant reveries all through
A realm, a prosaic man might call one of idiocy

There let poesy come to me in rainbow hues
My verse creating in me and others waves of delight
Levitate me to a plane higher above the mundane
And curl me in the folds of a dream like an invisible spirit

does the dawn fall in love with
the receding night?
does the sun long to merge with
the silvery beams of the moon?
does the blue sky ever attempt to kiss
the earth in a tight embrace?
do the mountains strive to touch
the stars of the firmament?

is it not the red tint of the morn
that colours the cheeks of the dusk?
is it not the smile of the moon
that lessens the wrath of the sun?
is not the sky sharing the earth’s pain
as she sheds tear drops in sweltering heat?
aren’t the twinkling stars covering the darkness
lending a radiant sparkle to the black granite?

love turns the world around,
enriching the donor and the receiver
it gives more than the soul can aspire
it lights up more than darkness can hide
it fills the void, makes us whole
a light house to the sailors at sea
the greatest gift, a treasure of measureless worth

so love as never before, love till you die!