Salamanders

Salamanders

December 1997

By Anupama Bhattacharya

Unwinding the spool of the cosmic dream
Letting go, all at once
Floating. floating, in an ocean of fire
A joy is born. 

Ethereal, ephemeral visions float past
Elusive, flittering, furtive;
From the abysmal chasms of the sleeping memory
A snake uncoils.

The ocean boils with the birth pangs of Time
Moments meet millennia,
In the blink of an eye an eon is past
Drawn, driven by a force unleashed.

Did a lotus unfold to reveal Brahma
Did Sheshnag unwind to create Vishnu
Did Shiva’s tandava set to motion
The primal shape of life.

Perhaps the death spasms of timeless eternity
Were just a blur in the blue;
When vivid, vibrant, vivacious stars
Like million fireflies in the dark
Shot out of the sea of nothingness.

From formless void to a shaping universe
Burning. burning.
The salamanders now dance and play
In a celebration of life.