Fallen Star

Last evening I came, after all these years
My eyes searched you with unforeseen fears.

Yes you were there, all grown up and tall
Before your magnificence, I still stood small.

As I gazed from my window
Smoke curling from my lips,
To see you after long
was coming to grips.

Dusk having set in
I looked at your slender form
You stood there alone, down in the lawn.

Soaking in the beauty in silent solitude
Unaware of someone admiring your graceful attitude.

Been many a summer since we had first met
The memory lingers on, not letting go of it, yet.

I was visiting my grandma's place
A teenager, figuring out my ways.

Standing on the terrace, it was love at first glance
You set my heart aflutter and led me into a trance.

Standing silent with a smile,
Tender and fragile.
Were shy and so still
Oh! If looks could just kill.

Thought you were a nymph, for a while
Ethereal enough to beguile.

Heady fragrance you had worn
Leaving me sick and lovelorn.

How I wished to behold
Not possible, my inner voice told.
You were beyond my reach
I halted myself with a screech.

Lost in touch but never forgotten
With studies and career I was besotten.

Vivid images flashed back of the days bygone,
Setting me to think, why to you, I am drawn. 

Demure and innocent, filled with such simplicity,                   You bewitch me with all your beauty. 

Sweet scent wafts towards me, in the still dark night,
Saffron dot on your forehead and draped in milky white.

It is so becoming of you
Each word said about you is true.
But why do you look so sad and forlorn.

To see you in sorrow, my heart gets torn.
You come out at dusk and are gone by dawn
Why this time limit, to self, you have drawn?

This enigma around you, deep and mysterious, 
Makes me fall for you, serious.

Waiting from morn, for early nights
Only to see your face, under the dim neon lights.

Alas, the next morning when I woke up at dawn
And hastened my steps towards the lawn;
Your face had paled and your body a crimson
You lay fallen in full blossom.

Dew clung to you making you crimp
Seeing your slain body I hurried with a limp.

Saffron and white,
Peace and sacrifice.
So your colours, for a reason
Were you subject to some treason?

As you lay vanquished, without the slightest murmur.
You doubtless, have a bitter sense of humour.

To leave me, standing in mourning
Just when I had reached you with such yearning.

Picking you up gently, so delicate and light
You must have gone down, waging a hard fight.

I took you to the altar where you rightfully belong.
And offered you to the idols, making my heart strong.

There they stood, full of grace
Glow on Krishna and Rukmini's face.

The pair fought all and were so callous
Just to see you planted, in their palace.

What all they did, even took to stealing
Blemish on them, took a long time for healing.

Prosperity, Happiness, Health and Longevity
Alongwith it you promise, immortal beauty!

No wonder you came out of churning the Ocean, 
Who else could behold you to their bosom.

With all your heart you proposed to the Sun
How sorrowful, he rejected and decided to shun.

Through the night in silence you cry,
While he stays relentless and his heart wry.

He went on to curse you in a fit of rage
For you to fall at the touch of his ray.

But you offer yourself at his feet in devotion,
Such is your faith in unflinching passion.

The lone Parijata!
So tragic your Katha.