Once When I Looked Out Of The Window

Once when I looked out of the window
Neena Dighe     Translated by Sushama Karnik

The dark of the dusk swamped in
 as I opened the window to look at the sky.
The moon had just called in,
 perhaps a while ago.
But a lone wayward cloud
 had just made its way
 into the moon's white track.
with a pack of magic on its back.
In a moment its gossamer web would ensoul the moon
and next, the cloud would shiver
 in the bath of  the milk of paradise.

And here down below, right before my eyes
was the familiar solitary tree
touched by the gift of the lonely eminence
of the moon playing out its music to all.
Its rich leafy garb was no longer green;
its density had taken in the white-clad richness
of the shining arm of the night.

It was then that I saw this pair of parrots
making a delayed flight across the darkened sky.
Cutting a desperate path across the firmament,
they sent out a screeching call.
Probably a pair of souls
who had lost the track of home.