Aayan Yogesh Khati
This vast sea of amber
So still, and yet so alive.
A camel plods on like a ship
Like a lumbering tower in its stride.
A wind blows over this dry expanse
And grains, like glass orbs
Shift like tempest strike waters,
And rest again like an eternal heart throb.
The dunes cast shadows against the sun;
The spine of an eldritch serpent slain.
The air rises up; a delicate veil,
As is escaping from the heat’s disdain.
Somewhere an oasis lies, untouched,
It’s lush greenery a testament against death.
Somewhere a desert lotus blooms proudly
It’s scales shielding again the desert’s hot breath.
The night turns the endless ocean livid.
The cold claims all those who dare venture about
The sand hills become silhouettes of slumbering giants
Creatures of the night roam to feed their mouths.
The stars pave a walkway to the heavens,
Each one embedded in the sky like a jewel.
For a second, you can glance into the ethereal eye of the cosmos,
And you feel maybe the desert is not always so cruel.
(Currently, Aayan is a 12th-grade student at St. Augustine’s School in Kalimpong.)
