A Night's Tale

I met her on a bridge

I walked from the eastern side

And she was from the west

Under us an icy river thundered by...



We had not planned this meeting

Though I had seen it in my dreams

I never thought I’ll walk on that bridge

Or meet her there...



Our eyes met and at that moment,

I heard a million unspoken words

The silence was deafening

But it was also the last thing I heard...



We stood there facing each other

Then we stepped closer and closer

Finally we were so close

That I could see my eyes in hers



Well that was after my heart had left me

I saw her feet getting wetter and wetter

By the kisses my heart placed on them

Trying to win over her heart for me



My hearing had failed me

And my eyes refused to see anything but her

My mouth, well I can’t really say

It got frozen shut by a torrent of words...



And we stayed that way for sometime

I don’t know, maybe a minute or a million aeons

Might have passed by as we stood there

But we continued to stand there, regardless...



A cold breeze blew by us,

And it was followed by a warm drift

A soothing, pleasing drift of love and warmth

Ya, it did emanate from her...



Ha! Now my senses were beginning to work

I turned around to take in the scene surrounding us

But my vision still seemed blurred

Or was it because her hair formed a dark cloak around us?



Despite my rediscovery of the sense of sight, I was reluctant

To look anywhere around me...

I didn’t really feel like taking my eyes

Away from the angelic beauty so close to me...



So I kept looking and admiring and drowning

Into the twin seas of sweet water that were her eyes...

I knew I was losing myself, but I was relishing it

I knew I was crashing into love and I was loving it

Well, I can’t describe how it felt

English fails to supply words to match it

If I were to compromise with the incompetent vocabulary

I would say that I was in a cloud of bliss



And what a cloud it was...with me in the middle of it

Rains of happiness blessed my world

I felt joy and mirth flowing around me

And in the very veins inside me...



The parched rivers of my heart were rejuvenated

I had a high tide, not of water, but of happiness

But I was not sure if my angel wanted to share

A boat ride with me through this rain of bliss...



I was hesitant to ask her about it

What if she refused and left?

This sight of beauty I was getting lost in,

Even that would have been denied to me.



So I continued to stand there

Like a 5-year old lost in the beauty

Of a gift his dad had given him

But no, this gift had come to me from God.



They say people who smile often

Become closer to god

But I wanted to make you smile all the time

So I could stay close to an angel



It was then that you opened you mouth

Those sweet lips moved in unison

Can unity and separation bring more confusion?

Well it happens every time you smile at me....



You looked around us slowly

I couldn’t bear to see those eyes moving away

I prayed that you would look back at me but also thought

Of removing my eyes and be blinded with love...



You looked at the scene around us

And exclaimed about the beauty of nature

Do you know, my dear, that nature exclaims

About your beauty every time it sees you?



Well, at that moment I had no choice, but to agree

I didn’t want to argue saying you looked more beautiful

Than all the flowers and birds and everything else

That nature might have created in her best moments...



You looked a bit hesitant, but why?

What was it that you wanted to ask?

I waited patiently, of course

I would wait an eternity to hear the music of your voice...

Finally, you decided to say it and be done

You asked me if I wanted to take a walk

Well, if it was with you, I’d walk into the gates of hell

And through blazing fires and chilling blizzards...



But no, you weren’t planning on testing me that day

You just asked me to walk with you to the western side

To your side, where you had come from

And me, well I just stood there without saying anything



Obviously, I wanted to yell with all my heart

That I would do nothing but walk with you

But my mouth was still stuck with words

And I agreed by shaking my head foolishly...



I don’t know why or how it happened

But I’m glad that it did happen

Your face broke into a smile

The most beautiful one I had ever seen...



You tugged my hand as though I was a kid

And you were my mother taking me to school

And just dragged me as u sped forward

To the western side you had come from...



And we cleared the bridge together

With me struggling to keep pace with you

And we entered your land

The land that had created a beauty like you



I know it is a cliché

But I will still say it

The grass really looked greener on your side

Unless it was my eyes playing tricks with me...



And the trees, well they looked like tall moms,

With branches bending down to pick playing kids

And hug them close to keep them warm

Maybe because it was your land, there was love everywhere...



We roamed around the length and breadth of this land

Where the sun was never too hot

Nor was the wind too strong

Nor were the nights too long



But I wanted this night to go on

On and on, for all eternity to come

Coz this night I wasn’t eating or drinking

Or even breathing, oh no! Not this night.



This night I was bathing, bathing in your beauty

And was feeling the blessing of gods upon me

For it was only that and nothing else

Which could have brought you to me...

And then we got to a wooded park

The trees here blocked out even the moonlight

Maybe this was a personal place for lovers

And not even the moon was allowed entry



We sat down at the foot of a tree

A massive trunked tree it was

I don’t know why she chose that one to sit under

But I’m sure she had her reasons



She asked me if I liked her country

Well, I don’t know if it was the long walk

Or the magic played by the trees

But the gates of my mouth were finally open



Out of disuse for a while, I couldn’t speak well

Words came in bits and pieces out of my mouth

I think she liked my reply coz she smiled

Yet another of those beautiful smiles passed through her lips...



And then we started talking, well about a thousand things

Jumping from one subject to the next, from one topic to another

She listened keenly when I talked, but not me...

I simply lost myself in her eyes when she spoke



Thankfully, she was not a schoolteacher

And did not ask me any questions from her talk

For if she had tried, I would have flunked the test

And may have been asked to stay out of her class...!!



And we talked, for a very long time...

Maybe the gods heard my prayers

For night was granted an extended life

And we were granted each other’s lives



After speaking and listening and speaking and listening,

She asked me a question...something I knew the answer to, for a change...

She asked me if I liked the time I spent with her

I replied saying that if I was to die by her side, I would die a happy man...



I half-expected her to get up and leave

Another part of me wanted to save me from a slap

But she did neither; she just looked into my eyes

And broke again into one of those smiles...



That minute, that one minute, I simply wanted

To hold her face in my hands and hand my life over

Because to me, life had ended as I knew it

And this night had made it worth living...



I saw her brighten up in an instant

Maybe it was happiness or maybe it was sunlight

Ya, the sun had begun to rise in the east

And his rays were gently embracing her...

Never had I enjoyed dawn so much,

The end of the previous night did not deter me

It had brought me together with the love of my life

And had given way for dawn symbolising a new beginning.



Well, it was a new beginning for me,

An end to all the miseries and trials of my past

A fresh page in my book of life

Fresh as a morning in spring...



And I was sharing the glory of that morning with her

Praying that I would wake up every morning of the rest of my life

With my head in her lap enjoying her soft grazing through my hair

Reminding me of the days my mother used to do that...



She wanted to know how much time I had left

I told her I had a few thousand days of my life left

And that I wanted to spend every minute of that with her

Should I tell her that my time would end the moment she left?



I don’t think so. Not because it would hurt my manly ego

But because I knew that she knew it, I could see it

In those beautiful brown eyes that spoke a lot

Without ever disturbing the beauty of silence...



Once again, she smiled. And I was caught off guard....

Completely disarmed and defeated. Yet I was happy.

Happy because I had lost myself and found her

Happy because she had given herself and absorbed me



I will end this here, as I’m needed somewhere

My girl is calling out to me, to take a walk

In the park under a full moon as beautiful as her

With the gods blessing us with a gentle drizzle, so goodbye...