Lone Palmyra

Palmyra Tree That is the name of a place In the High Range Wayanad of Kerala There is no palmyra there now Time has leveled the lands Into depraved modernity Yet the name haunts A broken Jain temple stands Testifying to an ancient cultural past There stood perhaps a lone palmyra there Some time back, jutting into the skies His disheveled hair waving to the tune of violent winds As he guided drunkards safely home In pitch-dark monsoon nights A light-house to those who were lost An upright guide who searched the heavens And sang to the constellations above Pouring nectar out of a lonely heart The lone palmyra of yore No one knows what sweet thoughts crowded his head When he stood there staring at the heavenly dots What dreams he dreamt Who are the vampire-fairies that made him their abode To lure, embrace and lead Solitary debauchee wanderers of the night To their slumberous deaths, drained of blood Lone palmyra of yore You are a dream That enchants us on our lonely plains Of a long-lost past of fairy tales, Stars, winds, rains and weeping souls