Life in Heaven

This is a poem on first impressions of India

Life in heaven


Heaven’s blanket lifts slowly in the morning.

Like a miracle, light seeps through the covers to reveal the city,

moist, wriggling, bawling a first breath.

new day, new possibilities - New Delhi.

Roaring horns cover sorrows in one long note,

an alarm barely recognised by children.

Kings of castles of masonry and dust,

imagining godly mosaics in an aluminum glaze.

A breeze flaps relief from the mounting heat

soothing adolescent passions and troubled minds,

as soldiers on hot pavements remain watchful.

Horses and donkeys dream of unknown pasture

tails flicking hapless flies into the thick of it.

Somewhere there’s the note from a bamboo flute

rising above the money changers and hungry hands

clear, fresh and hopeful it flies,

to sit on golden domes and towers.

A faithful skyline promising blessings.