The Flame

Alight...flickering...a flame that consumes

a million dreams, buried deep within —

prayers, wishes, hopes...all imagined, abstract —

and thoughts, wisps of smoke, they come, they go,

yet confined, trapped inside those four walls....

Here comes the rain, tracing its quiet path

down the window pane...a blur, that's all there is,

and the eyes, famished, weary, look up...

Phew .. it's not all black and white, after all—

green, yellow, magenta, blue....the rain outside...

but the flame flickers again as the breeze dies...

cool, serene, pleasant no more..life goes on.

Alight...flickering... the flame burns from far away...

across the road, way down the alley,

a tiny speck in the starry skies...reflected in those eyes...

longing, desperate for the secret joys buried within—

friends, family...a hug and a kiss, laughter...warmth—

but isolation speaks in silence even as the rains lash down...

a blur, that's all there is... the flame flickers

one last time...a final goodbye...and there it is again —

the black and white...life goes on.