the street light
a poem by Natasha Kurien
A deserted street,
a lone light post,
a stranger walking by,
clothed in an oversized sweatshirt
and baggy loose jeans —
as unattached as the dreams
she once wore on her sleeve.
The glow of the light,
off-roads into a bed of sand,
resting against the thickly tarred road
with granular stories untold.
Beyond it lay
a shroud of darkness,
obscuring the shadow
the street light left behind.
The blur of the city,
immersed in the vacuum,
witnessing the occasional
sounding of a horn
signaling life in the distance.
The stranger sits
at the foot of the post,
resting against the
momentary support,
basking in the brief hope it offered.
She began collecting
the numerous thoughts,
that scurried away
like the ants at her feet,
taking home their spoils of the day.
She looked for assurance,
she looked for hope,
she looked for the glow,
that would illuminate
the emptiness within.
A lone ranger,
caught between holding on to hope,
as it lifts her feet off the ground —
or despair as it capped dreams,
offering to protect instead.
To trade dreams for stability
or hold on to hope,
so much that you rise
with the balloon so high up,
only to see it pop
right before your eyes.
Is this the life we’re told to live?
To dream unrealistic dreams
to reach for the sky
but only just,
to break our fall —
oh what a strange world
of spirit and despair.
May you instead choose
to dream the dream,
to fight for that dream,
and as you walk ahead,
remember to stand
in the way of the light
so that all your yesterdays
are a mere shadow
cast into the darkness
leaving room for the light
to show you the way.
Fare thee well, my fellow passerby
all things good and
all things bad
eventually, come to end
so walk we will
in the way of the light
as it casts a glow
for us to reside in.
