Special Section: Toolika Rani

Toolika Rani

The Interplay of the Light and the Gloom

(Based on a picture by Keshav Sharma, Canada)

In the golden light of the night 

Sleep the dreams that the day had lulled 

Into a waking slumber,

An ache of the limbs that descends 

Into the bones 

In an uncontrolled tumble.

The windows shut to keep the frost out 

Spare no vent for the unsuppressed sighs to sneak out 

And thus, they circulate within 

Like a bad air to breathe in. 

 

The glow on the window

Quietly exhales-

Below is the road to freedom.

Though no one appears in sight 

And the lonely path might 

Scare the ghost of your 

Previous bright self, 

Here only dwells 

The spirit of the elf 

That rises to the heights 

In the supernatural world. 

So, take a golden leaf 

And beginning with a leap 

Release the feet from fear

The light is bound to tear

The ensemble of the gloom,

There is no perpetual doom!

*** 

Juxtapose 

The shapely houses with a clear, rigid structure, 

All resembling one another,

Tied to a lamppost of strained security,

Glistening as the paradigms of man-made purity,

People who love each other live there 

Or at least that is how it is supposed to be.

No one wanders on the road 

In an endless seeking that explores;

Twisted in the centre, 

Dissecting the rows of the houses 

As if it were a monster out to meander 

And capture anyone who may, by chance, wander 

On its slippery, shiny gravel, only to surrender 

The will to return ever,

And toss her into the realm of the clouds

Forever cursed to a shapeless splendour.

***

---

Setu, December 2025