A Reverie Poem by Shriram Iyengar

I slept that night,
In peace as white
As the sheet drawn
Over my head.
I dared not breathe
to disturb the winds
That passed
through my lungs
As sky breathed
so slow, so low

And the earth opened
Her green heart
to cradle me
In a loving embrace
Where time stopped
and fear died, forever
It died with my heart
that had stopped
Its nervous pitterpatter
and was still,
As still as the colour black
And yet, i moved.

I rose up through the wind,
parting the dark skies
and walked past stars that shined on;
They did not mind a stranger.
They knew as i came
I shall be gone.

I rose as far as my mind could go
Till i reached a point where
light no longer passed
through my eyes
Nor did the wind blow
Where everything was
As white as the snow
and as cold.

I smelt every sound
and heard every colour
and tasted every emotion
that I could feel
And i felt nothing
and learnt nothing.

I turned back through the gates
And fell with a star
fiery and fast
I fell forever
and reached the pathways of man
Again