Who Am I 1

WHO AM I Who am I anyway; a hare-brained mongrel? A tree lightning struck on sedate shores? Deadwood burnt lying in the grave of forgetting? A firefly turned into scorching torch? Or thunder challenged screaming at the lightning? Today I am in the sky where a red sword From a swarthy ocean furiously flashed Between blasting billows of earth’s passion Am I not my friend fearing this sword-thrust Into this far sky coalescing into My black blood’s steady vermillion whisper Where is the truth that deliquesces not At my patient inquest into this burn Its never healing itch and identity The rain soaked bird and its song is sunk The river is in flood, my thirst is but quenched I strain to break through my birth-bonding skeins By S.Jagathsimhan Nair Date: Written about 20 years back For Gautami Phookan's contest