For S.H. Raza
An accidental journey
borne of a black dot
on a dirty wall
for punishment
the teacher scrawled
pressing your head
to a corner
until the dot imprinted
unfurling a black hole
You threw everything into it
paintbrushes, sweat, ruminations
every primary color
every secondary desire
the blue nectar of a lotus
the yellow blood of a bee
the bindu emerging
between lines
straight as soldiers
on a taut canvas
A circle becomes a comma
becomes a pause
becomes a truth
blanketed in darkness
its beginning sought
from white
its end a merging
of all colors
and as always
that unmountable
black steed
hurtles through
the universe
chasing
light
~ Shikha Malaviya
Shikha Malaviya is an Indo-American poet. Her book, ‘Geography of Tongues’, was published in December 2013 and featured in several literary festivals. Shikha is a co-founder of The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective, a literary press. She was a featured TEDx speaker in GolfLinks, Bangalore, in 2013.
Editor’s note: A version of this poem appeared in Muse India, Issue 53, and it is republished here with kind permission from the poet.