Happy Diwali!

Happy Diwali!

It is time to celebrate...indeed!
Diwali with a billion diyas.
In the midst the dark clouds
Hovering over an idea called India...

Diyas in the hearts of darkness.
The lights that can dispel despair...
The lights that can heal the wounded.
The lights that will expose the lies.
The light that will make us smile.
The lights that can diffuse bombs deep within...

Diyas, beyond a Diwali.
Of hope and healing.
In the midst of a winter...
Burnt smell of prayers...
Smell of Sulphur
Raped nuns!
Screams of children
Blood on the streets
Flesh fuming in the air.
Terror dancing in deadly flames...
Frozen consciousness in a chilly night!
In the days of bicycled bombs!
Deadly entertainments on the TV screens
Reeking mouths of ministers.
Fashion parade.
Parliament in a cacophony
Slaughtered ideals
And plastic people.


A billion more lights.....
To fight the demons within.
To wake up our land to the freedoms...
To a garden of bright flowers and fragrance
To listen to the sighs and sorrows.
To erase the tears.


An eternal Diwali...
With a billion diyas in the eyes...
Jingles of the flowing rivers.
Mingled with the magic of a dream
No hungry child on the bed
No crackers.
No sound and fury.
Only silence of prayers.
The warmth of the diya,
Soothing our souls
For ever.
.
Dignity blooms in the morning sun,
In a million coloures of the spring.
Let my India shine tomorrow
Beyond the shames of today,
And the shadows of yesterday.


We are the diyas,
On a million pathways to the truth...
With a billion smiling diyas in the hearts
Dancing in the winds
Diwali, waiting for us...
We too are waiting.
For ever...

Happy Diwali.


John Samuel