Diwali Remembrance Poem by Madathil Rajendran Nair

She had simian features
But burning eyes
Mostly in chemise
She was adrenaline
That set my heart in spate

That was long long ago
When we shared company
In the flash of Diwali crackers
And roaring sparklers
All that I remember
She smelt too good
In her teenage efflorescence

I hadn’t then seen
Arabian beauties
Or ogled the blondes
Brunettes, blacks
That set Hollywood on fire
With cleverly concealed anatomical features

Sophia Loren was unknown
As was Irma La Douce
Ursula was yet to bewitch
Robbers in forlorn deserts

She lent me the fire
With which I lighted crackers
Most of which misfired
Each time the light was passed
I saw her eyes glint
In a primeval fire
That spread out a night-sky of stars

Having lost her forever
In my senility now
I need only the memory of that fire
To light my crackers
And sporadic sparklers
Through lonely nights
Like comets in spate

Oh, Diwali is a splendour
May I have her around
In her scanty chemise
Smelling all time good
Like a haystack in rain wet
Or at least a memory of it