BEAUTIFUL

A cinder, 
neither coal nor ash, 
my life, 
clogs the roots of swaying carnations. 
Fear, like a cheetah, runs faster than discretion. 
Helplessly you tear off the last page 
of the book 
without reading the end. 

One petaled coral, green, 
hides the white death, 
drowning the hope. 
The river has changed the course, 
without meaning, purpose, 
meandering, engulfing the cardinal designs. 

A homeless god wanders, 
in my garden, to sit for a while 
in the ruins of burnt umbers, 
till the shrine is completed.

Satish Verma