The Best of the Night To You, Too, Bala - Part One

Part One for E. Balasubramaniam (June 13, 1935 - August 7, 1993) So you took the covert road of the night and stalked me while I listened to Vivaldi up to midnight At two when you were ready to go you woke me stunned stark in your memory your impishly entrancing laughter your dark bright pupils beaming through the slits of your tightly drawn lids your ivory teeth basking in uncontrollable mirth your blacker than black ear-antennae and higher than high civil-servant brows marking your dark-diamond worth your patience your more than necessary feeling for the less than fortunate friends and relatives stretched cummerbund tight round your caring nature How you knew how to share your luck Always a little put out for your beneficiaries' putout-ness Worrying speechless night after night lest your luck run out teeth in protesting grind against the risks of your calculated outstepping Paths led up straight for one whose smiles funnelled from the heart lit in ever-foraging circles of fire There was no obstacle to the summit for you took with grace only what you knew how to spare with care