Darkness of light

~ Rajani Radhakrishnan

Indolent tongues of yellow light, peering from tired clay lamps, flicked the smooth curtain of darkness, feeling its inky texture, curious, wanting to burn a little hole in its opaque folds to unravel the mangled debris of thirty six years, that she had carefully concealed behind it.

While the fireworks floated down from the sky into her kohl tipped eyes, while the ghee from the gold flecked sweets glistened on her open lips, while the rustle of her Benaras silk fanned the shimmering dance of the seductive Diwali night, she smiled.

The truth could wait till morning.

alone on the grass
in the grey dawn rain
the crow doesn’t know it is crying

84 thoughts on “Darkness of light”

  3. Highlight fairs around
    the world sing
    stars of joy
    in human
    heart.. as humans
    are made to live
    together and
    it is the
    separate
    that can
    be lonely
    and truly insane..
    at least an online
    connection can
    bRinG dreams
    of real
    human
    civilization
    again together
    free and sane..:)

    Like

    Reply

  9. “the crow doesn’t know it is crying” perhaps hints of her state of mind in relation to to her hidden past and the impending revelation of truth? Beauifully worded.

    Like

    Reply

  12. I hope you had a most celebratory Diwali. This is an exquisite description. I really like the juxtaposition of the final haiku.

    Like

    Reply

  15. Beautiful writing, Rajani, and I thought the haibun went splendidly with your prose. You had me thinking about the crow crying in the rain, who didn’t know it was crying. I was feeling the way suffering and discomfort in our lives can worm their way into our souls and become a strange normalcy, like the way a pungent scent on the farm is obvious to people just arriving from the city… but the farmer is oblivious… The familiar so often keeps the truth hidden from us…

    Peace
    Michael

    Like

    Reply

    1. Absolutely Michael, you’ve explained it so well. I wonder if we truly adapt to pain by sheer instinct to survive or our denial mechanism is so finely honed, we would ratther never face up to it.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  19. This is a most amazing image: “curtain of darkness, feeling its inky texture, curious, wanting to burn a little hole in its opaque folds” Such is flame in dark night; such am I standing outside this lady’s studied silence!

    Like

    Reply

  20. How very philosophical – if we cry in the rain does anybody see (including us) – Schrödinger’s cat came into my week – it reminded me of that! But your poem is far more lyrical..

    Like

    Reply

  24. That last line and closing haiku has pretty much summed up my week. It has hit that nail so hard it’s taking all I have for this Raivenne not to cry with the crow. The scene before beautifully colored especially in contrast to its ending.

    Like

    Reply

  26. I love me some haibun, my favorite form these days. If a crow caws deep in the forest, & nobody hears it, is it a silent scream? The haiku is 5,5,7–interesting, slightly different form. I put tanka, haiku or American sentences or collom lunes in mine, & don’t keep every stanza in prose; what fun. Your piece certainly makes the reader want to know more about the woman.

    Like

    Reply

  36. What a colorful and beautiful celebration this is ~ You have weaved an intriguing character as well ~ I hope this is lovely beginning for her ~

    Love the haibun ~

    Like

    Reply

  38. love this haibun and the link of crow to blackness, tears, fire & water, and “wanting to burn a little hole in its opaque folds”

    Like

    Reply
  39. Pingback: The lightness of dark | Untaken Words...

Share your thoughts:

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.