Images of the night
K. Radhakumar *
I woke up in a sweat.
In a sweat -
Not because of summery weather
Though it was high summer;
In a sweat -
Because I woke up from a bad dream.
My midsummer night's dream —
It was a bad dream.
The night was still young
And I tried to go back to sleep
But I could not.
In the silence
I could hear the wall clock ticking
Tick tock tick tock;
The silence echoed through the room.
An owl hooted outside
Birds suddenly awakened made noise.
A gust of wind flapped the curtains
And images ghosted up the wavy surface
Of the curtains or cinema screens.
All of a sudden
My wife cried out in her sleep.
I was in two minds About waking her.
Much to my relief
She turned her back to me
And started snoring.
I lay awake listening to her snores -
Strangely, it did not irritate me
And I was no longer afraid of the dark.
I felt I saw images of two persons for a moment
One crying in her sleep
And another snoring in the echoing night.
The next moment, I saw her sleeping peacefully.
I do not know
When and how I fell into a deep sleep;
I woke to a clear dawn
Finding myself an integrated being
And saw a full life kissing death
Like two lovers on the eastern horizon.
* Poem written by K. Radhakumar which was published at The Sangai Express
This poem was webcasted on July 24, 2018.
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