Sophistry

Photo by author of Nithymalli (a jasmine variety that flowers daily)

in the midst
of a deadening dark
inconducive to reason,
this first bloom
on the first day
of the new year
whole, perfect,
mimics a benediction —
one irrational budding hope
cancelling another irrational fear —
a lifeline grasped
on the edge of sanity,
and thus…life continues…

New year in India generally differs by state. In my home state of Tamil Nadu, it is on 14th April. By a bizarre coincidence, this plant flowered for the first time since I got it two months ago, exactly on the fourteenth; and it shone in the sun, gleaming betwixt the tangled stems like a beacon of hope.

© Indira Reddy 2021