Effulgence

In the dreary desert,
that presence shone
as the lustre of the moon.
Each forlorn night
the lustre kissed that
thirsty sand dune…
Enthralled dune hummed a tune
inaudibly to herself.
The nocturne sung
enabled her to
face the sun next morn.
She used to believe that
when the day would just
become a red dot on the west
that maddening presence would
radiate his flamboyant lambency innate…

And humming the tune,
She would rediscover
Her so far hidden charm…

Time chimed---tune faded
And arid remained the zone,
Yet that lustre, fugacious though
Gave the unmasked dune
A river-bed of her own!

Bibi Basu

1983