The Desert Dancer Poem by Padmanabhan Ananth

We left our apart-hotel at noon of a hot day
Sweat beads of anticipation in downtown Dubai
Cool comfort of sparkling white Land Cruiser
At wheel, chattering but adept Pathan* driver

Reached glittering desert camp at night
An exotic oasis for exciting Arabian fete
Desert sands had turned magically cold
The perpetrator: roaring gusts of chill wind

At camp, we saw elaborate arrangements
To entertain hordes of famished global guests
Pungent aromas of shisha**, roasting foods
Magic, mehendi^, spirits - pleasing all senses

Young belly dancers dressed sensually
To lilting Arabic melodies, danced Ras Shakri^^
Their percussive, fluidic belly movements
Shimmies, vibrations, shivers of dancers - and of us!

But my mind was elsewhere restlessly wandering
Thoughts reluctant to leave, of the earlier evening
At the end of our exhausting desert safari
The scene that kept coming back from memory

After the rollicking rough ride bashing dune
With flattened tyres of the four-wheel drive
We reached a sandy deserted high spot
In anticipation of that sheer-magic moment

She a giant yellow disk making her sky-fall
Gently turning red - blushing, seeing us all?
She magically glowed, shimmered, glided
Finally into dunes she danced and drowned

That vision declined to leave my eyes
That celestial dance over the desert skies!
The gyrators at the boisterous campsite
Just no compare to the crimson sun-dance!
- - -

*or 'Pashtun' - an ethnic group of Afghanistan.
**or hookah - an instrument for vaporising and smoking flavoured tobcco.
^is an application of henna on hands for decoration
^^Bellydancing in Arabic.