Special Edition: Meenakshi Mohan

Meenakshi Mohan

Who will hold the light

 

Ke loibe mor kaarjo, kohe shondhya robi

Shuniya jogot rohe niruttor chhobi.

Matir prodip chhilo, she kohilo, shwami,

Amar jetuku shaddhyo koribo ta ami.

Rabindranath Tagore

 

(This poem is dedicated to my sister, who, despite her handicap and humble living, was the sole caretaker of our father in his ailing age.)

 

in the twilight hour

when the sky wore the deep sapphire blue

to bid farewell to the sinking sun

the sun whispered, “who will now hold the light?”

the world stood mute,

then the lampposts one by one

sprinkled their faint amber glow

brightening the city’s lonely alleys

 

inside one of the humble abodes,

dim and quiet

lay her father in deep repose,

a fragile structure of the past

yet for her, an ancient,

rooted tree, and she a tender vine,

despite her slow rhythm of destiny

wrapped strength around

his slowing life

 

she creaked the window open

to let the fresh air breathe in

into the still room

and saw the lampposts

standing guard to hold the light

through their thin, dark pole,

bringing color and glow

in the desolate cityscape

 

 

 

she looked inside her apartment

cloaked in loneliness

where silence was broken

by the raspy, shallow sound of

her father’s breath – she smiled

yes, she was the one

holding the light in her frail hands –

a flicker against her father’s gathering dusk.

 

 

Note: Tagore poem:

Who will take up my work?" asked the evening sun.

Hearing this, the world remained silent. A clay lamp said,

"My Lord, I shall fulfill this duty to the best of my ability.”

Dr. Meenakshi Mohan (USA) is an internationally published writer, scholar, art critic, children's writer, painter, and poet. She is on the editorial Committee for Inquiry in Education, a peer-reviewed journal published by National Louis University, Chicago, Illinois. She is an Advisory Editor for Confluence, UK. Meenakshi received the Setu and Panorama International Awards for Excellence in Literature. Her book, Symphonies of Life, won the Sudesh Kamra Memorial Award for the best debut poetry book at the Bhasha and Beyond Literary Festival, Pune. Meenakshi lives in the USA.

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Setu, December 2025