Afternoon Shadow Poem by Saroj Padhi

My afternoon shadow elongates
into the loving bosom of a dark night
like coils of smoke rising from city's garbage fire
that bend to merge into the lower sky
when a handful of stars blinker at the fringe
in dusk's weakening eye;
comets of past love shoot up
to slowly fizzle out into the air
as rosy dreams of farmers
get devoured by bustling planthopper pests;
leaves of crops flutter
like ineffectual wings,
buds falter under weight of smog
before they bloom, in twigs' shallow swings
still born corn crackles in silence
and sounds of growth whimper in stillness
as fields and farms are under fire;
let me wait for the half moon now
that promises to come with stars to brim
for me across blue ocean of love to swim.