Distant Horizon – a poem by Alka Balain

Distant Horizon
 
Early at dawn, when all is quiet,
the night sky is yet to surrender,
it holds on for a few more minutes
with bated breaths as it
hears the footsteps of the sun.
 
Another hug,
another colour of
meeting and parting —
 
deeper, darker, brighter colour of silence
before the sun breaks open on the earth.
 
There is something that makes me
look forward to the moment.
Possibly a hope
when
it may any moment
culminate into
a final union.
 
But they part again with
a promise to meet at dusk
that they honour,
unlike my merciless beloved.
 
What tapas they agreed to
for the universe to exist
for beauty to unfold
for life to happen
for us.
 
So glad to be a part of it all
and be it all.
 
Glossary:
tapas (in Sanskrit):  deep meditation, asceticism

Alka Balain has been an educator with a short stint in the corporate world. An autoimmune warrior, she resides in Singapore. Alka enjoys going on long walks in nature and loves to paint. Alka’s writings have appeared/are forthcoming in Usawa Literary Review, Kitaab, AlSphere, Dreich Review, Poetry India, The Hooghly Review, Visual Verse, Live Wire, among others. She is one of the shortlisted winners of the Poetry Festival of Singapore Catharsis 2021 and a featured shortlisted writer in the Wordweavers Poetry Contest 2022. She chairs the Writing Enthusiasts’ Club of the Indian Women’s Association and is also the Chapter head, Singapore of the Asian Literary Society.