Night Poem by BASAB CHAUDHURI

Night -
I touch it with my right hand
then hold it with both hands,
it comes into my cusp,
light, innocent, sublime -
then slips out to infinity.

Who says night is dark?
It appears serene in my eyes,
it speaks so softly in my ears,
caresses me like no one else -
its vanishing tenderness
is heavenly.

Have you ever tried to speak to a silent night?
Have you ever thought -
when everyone is asleep, it is awake!
When light is conspicuous by its absence,
night is with me to give company.

Night -
it slips into my eyelids,
brings me stars and galaxies,
carries me to the world of dreams
where I reinvent myself.

And before it leaves,
it gives me a nightly kiss
which you do not know,
which you do not see.