Myriad Reflections. Shastri Akella

Ochre lights & monochrome

Soft ochre lights
dancing over
long stretches
of brown earth

Puppets
in pink
musicians
in emerald

Krishna of tulip eyes
Mogul queens in imperial silks
Dancers in burgundy blouses

All staring from
window panes
vibrant colors and curios
in a shopping lane with no name

And suddenly
the scent
of musk
drags me

away from
the burst of colors
into a world
of monochrome

A sheet of marble white
nestled
amidst layers of black

A face of rough rigged features
and cathartic beauty
above a night-black tee
and below locks
dark as the deep of a well

A face?
no, a tome
brimming with a thousand stories

Stories of infinite power
of mystic lands
and hushed moments
that haunt my thoughts and stain my dreams

when I lay trembling
beneath thick woolens
tears drenching a throat
cursed with muteness

Those sepia tales
now come alive

welding themselves
into the form from where
they originate
and perhaps disappear

I peer into the face
his face
the place where it all began

That face –
a frozen memory, a drop of blood
from a gash of my heart
created by the piercing gaze
of the pianist

The one who stands inches away

He is washed in ochre light
and framed by a flood of color
and yet is so somber, so away
as only true beauty
can ever afford to be

he places his fingers on my arms
the camera winks
and he is gone

The moment now lies captured, I think

But how does one ever capture
that one single moment
when they have felt truly alive
from deep within

How does one create the essence
of a meeting
with a stranger

In some unknown land
On a street
with no name

A stranger?
Oh yes. One who has flooded
my hours ever since
his azure eyes flickered to life
over a hazy screen

God, those pellucid eyes
boring into my souls
little pockets of smells, memories, moments and pain

A tear trickles down
flushed cheeks
and I tell myself

Remember
remember this moment of powerful beauty
of life experienced at a pinnacle
of jewels acquired that may last a squalid lifetime

The skylights have paled
and so have the colors

The shops are shut
and the city is asleep

The dark clouds come searching and go away
the wild winds come looking and leave disappointed

But I know it is still there
I see it as the music of Bach fills my soul

Yes I see it
in thick darkness of this terrible night
that defining moment
of ochre lights and monochrome