By Keki N. Daruwalla
Merlin Moli, ‘Walking Dead in Dark Times’
Night bulletins are rife with Rafale and Sabarimala
As bare-chested devotees keep the pot churning.
Here the cold is dense, heavy, as a chowkidar adds twigs
and dry bark to keep chaff fires burning.
Hope and light, small-time thieves in the fog,
cling stealthily to something close to yearning.
And through a hole in the mist, suddenly
a barbet calls, ‘the year is turning’.
Poem © Keki N. Daruwalla; image © Merlin Moli.
Keki N. Daruwalla writes poetry and fiction. He lives in Delhi. His novel Ancestral Affairs was recently published by Harper Collins. He won the Commonwealth Poetry Award (Asia) for his poetry volume Landscapes.
Merlin Moli is a Delhi-based artist. She has three decades of sculpting experience with various materials. She has participated in exhibitions both in India and elsewhere.