Shade and light

Day and night,
shade and light,
side by side,
together I see.

Thick, lustrous tresses as dense as a foggy night,
straight as a laminate table top,
full of waves as a sea in the monsoon tide,
curling like a snail fast asleep,
tumbling down your back,
black as the recesses of a charcoal mine,
brown, sometimes as the bark of a mango tree
and sometimes as the bark of a coconut tree,
red as a creamy carrot halva and
blonde as the sunlight on a bale of hay.

An aura so pure and compelling that its luminosity
is like a powerful torch in the night,
as clear as pure mountain spring water ever was,
as brilliant as a thousand suns and more,
as undimmed as a child’s enthusiasms,
as intense as passion, as gentle as love,
as ubiquitous as air and constant as breath,
as visible as stars on a moonless night,
as tangible as the touch of a feather,
as palpable as life.

Day and night,
shade and light,
hair and halo,
side by side,
together I see.

Dashami 2004