Riverside Poem by Saroj Padhi

Here the heaths incessantly hum your name,
reeds sing of the white blossoms in your dark braid
catching moon light in their palms unfolded
in a trance with eyes blindfolded,
knotting the mad night to the aroma
from your armpits soaked in the sweat of a soft, dying drizzle;
buds in half-lit bushes bloom into big desires
flaming stars to beam with strange fires;
muddy waters in the marshes smear your growing image
across the vast moist moor merging into a jungle
where farmers collect spiny gourds from creepers
dangling from boughs of big trees
as snakes hiding there jump and play
scaring fledglings to an uncanny silence
in their nests of reeds, mud and hay;
and I move like a wisp of cloud
across your wet body in a desire to kiss
your dark brows still holding on
to the streaks of a rainbow gone.