We Were Six Poem by Madathil Rajendran Nair

We were six -
five male, one female,
the lone female bird sang her swan song,
flapped away the day before

Five male birds remain today
looking at the vacant sky,
scampering somewhere there is a little boy
with an eraser in hand that wipes all away

Erasing is his pleasure
the shapes that flower,
time he is christened,
God also is he called

No one knows when he will arrive
to wipe out the remaining tableau -
naughty boy wearing anklets,
smiling like the Milky Way
where worlds churn and originate

Moon-kid, please arrive
awaiting here are we the five
ready to cast away
our karma apparels in the Milky Way
dissolve memories of our past ways

If the tableau of us is erased,
will there a void remain?
Can it be endless space
or awareness like
a starless, colorless sky?

Will you arrive there, my child,
with your brush to draw again
a colorful portrait of six -
an evanescent tableau
of five male and a female?

I have heard that void is this ruing me
called consciousness by others sublime,
that is where you are born
where the Ganges of time originates

So, what does it matter, my naughty child,
come again and again
to draw as you please, then erase and enjoy,
what fun there is in consciousness
without creation sparking in its essence? !