As the day spangles mirrors upon sentience,

A fulgid eyelid draws upon the celestial and the iota.

An eyelid that sees no disparity between the two,

Draws with the same munificence,

Upon it all.

Pataakam— Varivaha: a rain cloud, Vanam: a forest, Samatva: equanimity

There again the stratocumulus clouds mirror the terrain,

Wafting and rafting the cerulean ether as grasslands.

Escorting the land with their flocculent hands, 

To learn and mirror the sky.

And there and now Terra moves 

Then breathes like the brume.

Mrigashirsham—: Head of a deer, Bheeti: Fear, 

Padmakosham—Phalam: fruit, Ghantarupam: A bell, Pushpavarsha: a deluge of flowers,

And in the precipice that of moment,

At the brink of the boscage,

I stand as the inconsonant fawn.

Watching the cosmopolitan pantomimes,

And the alder buckthorn berries.

As I breathe the Oppidan spoors,

The berries glisten as manifold orbs,

Mirroring the ommatidia of their zygopteran visitors.

Ardhapataakam—Pallavam: leaf, Theeraha: river bank,

Tripataakam— Makutam: crown, Vrikshaha: tree

Then, soon enough, I am the men who walk the road.

Rectifying the positions of their scarves,

Feeling the brumal ungues upon their shoes,

Or watching the trajectories of the leaves that fall.

The leaves that do not fall speak of distant lands,

Clangorously huddled upon the branches,

Are ghungroos that adorn the phantom ankles of the cosmic thespians.

Karana: combined movement of the hands and feet, 

Angahara: collective moments with combinations of Karanas,

Rechaka: variations in movements, 

Pindibandha: synchronicity of dancers

Then I am the leaves, and the fronds,

Falling,

Rising,

Huddling,

Performing aurorean sprawls;

Mirroring the men, 

Mirroring the skies, 

Mirroring their scarves,

Mirroring the fawns, the cities and the spoors,

Mirroring the brume, the lands and the grass.

Mirroring the buckthorn berry eyes and the images upon them,

Mirroring the anklets and the maneuvers of the thespians.

Thaandavam: a dance

Then, when it is time,

With uncontestable assiduity,

Seeing no disparity,

 I draw upon it all

As the fulgid eyelid.

*******

Authors note: This poem incorporates elements of an Indian classical dance called ‘Bharatanatyam’, which has been eloquently described in an ancient text referred to as the ‘Natya Shashtra’. The initial italicized terms (italicized and in bold) are ‘mudras’ which are hand gestures, along with their corresponding symbolisms (i.e, each hand gesture is used to indicate several meanings, depending on nuances and context). Other italicized terms are the Sanskrit names for various concepts necessitated in this art form.