A Lantern Guides

Cereus was in bloom in nightwashed desert, sand was cool, it tipped off the contour drain, a river sent its compliments. If the death was at home, like an estranged lover, will you open the door in dusky stripes of morning ? Rubber was burning in afternoon rain. An alert was sounded in curious lanes; the shadow was lengthening its stay ! Standing on the burnt-out hull, I count the shouts of the fathers on artifical limbs. Bits of violence have broken the sea. The seedless fruits descend on the glistening coffin. A city walks with me without end. There were roses, roses all the way. SATISH VERMA