Silent Night

Standing on a barge,
The world dancing away to
Loud music below and
Louder people below.
Me, at the bow, alone
A beer in one hand,
A cigarette in the other.
We gently float down
The mighty Hoogly,
Creator, protector, destroyer.
Today she is meek,
As silent as the night I am in,
More silent than the moon above me.
 

The light from the Howrah
Plays gently on the waters,
As we move under the bridge,
Quiet she stands,
For the day is done
And all are home.
The barge turns
Towards Vidyasagar Setu
And she is quite too,
Silent witness to the deed.
I turn to the shore,
Once so closely tethered
By the might of a slight rope.
Now far away
From the barge, now ebbing along
With the ebbing waters.
The Hoogly is pure,
She is kind,
The barge is cruel, the beer warm.
A flick of my wrists,
The cigarette dies in the waters,
Followed by the empty beer bottle.
Kind as she is, Hoogly accepts all,
Everyone in her fold,
Everyone to the sea.
A moment's thought,
Fleeting, nevertheless,
Would she be kind,
To deliver me, to deliver to me
To accept me as she did my things?
Silent, she remains,
As silent as the night I am in,
More Silent than the moon above me.

aditya

P.S. I unearthed this piece from within my mailbox. Still in love with the river and the city.