When the night bled,
little streams of silver light
trickled down my hair and beard
and despite my inferiority
I glowed an ethereal glow.

When I roamed the Earth
my gait heavy with guilt,
my head glowed
like a bobbing ball
through the dark labyrinths
of sleeping groves.

A swarm of termites
followed me all the way
to the grotto of silence
by the lotus lake
where I sat
lost
still
silent.

And they salved me
and covered my wounds
cocooning me within their mound
that smelt of the Earth and my tears
and I sat there
lost
still
silent.
for eons.

Until that morning
when a monstrous twang
pierced my heart
and brought
the Sarus crane down
writhing in agony
while his mate wailed.
and I cursed the hunter
to his own eternal hell
of regret.

When the crane died
words were born
in metre and rhyme
and I emerged
from my earthen mound
of silence,
singing.

In pain,
in empathy,
I found my voice again.