Heart of Darkness

Late into the winter months, the chill had suddenly spread its dark shadow over a bright moonlit night. As if the aging winter commanded more reverence, the earthly beings duly surrendered to the cold wave.No one dared venture out.The moon, the night, the winter and the silent breeze engaged in some kind of morbid romance ruled its subjects. The silent breeze embraced the lovely winter night and danced playfully around pausing to tickle a little bird,as chill seeped through the crevices and shivered it.Then again the couple frantically roamed the bright night.Unstopped and unstoppable ! Meanwhile,the night with its heart of darkness inspired fear and forbiddance.Fear of the unknown and forbiddance of the undone.The mortal beings were deep in the realm of dreams as the unconsciousness had taken over.Dissuaded by the darkness and content with living desires and fears at the will of unconscious mind.But,that was not all.The enticing moon on a clear night had devious designs of its own.A giant banyan tree cast a real dark shadow. Shadows which have purpose but no plans.Shadows which are sometimes sinful but never guilty.

In the heat of midday with sun overhead,a hawk searching for a prey spots an unwary little pigeon.As it closes in,the bird catches sight of the shadow and the chase begins. The bird flew fast on its little wings,but its desperate attempts to escape were intercepted by ferocious swerves by the hawk.Finally in one fell swoop,the beast digs its claws into the pigeon's chest.Heart punctured and crimson covered its immaculate wings.The little pigeon shrieked in pain and woke up from the nightmare!Horrified and sweating.

The little bird lay awake under its mother's wings staring at the night sky.The nightmare still haunting it.As the uneasiness grew,it hopped to the edge of the nest and looked around in careful appraisal of the winter night.It shrunk within its little wings to escape the chill.Cold and shivering, it remained there as if waiting in anticipation.The ambience had been mysteriously painted in shade and dark.The moon played tantalizingly with the night as it hid itself into the clouds and emerged after a while.The innocent bird had never seen the night and its elements in such form.Night was always presented as something forbidding and ominous.But here it was,the bewitching night and the lovely moon were already claiming it by there charm.Until then,it was awed by the night but now the curiosity took over.
It fixed its loving gaze over the moon without a blink.A jewel studded in the heart of darkness,how beautiful it was? Enough to arouse longing into a little heart.The moon passed a sly smile but the bird was too innocent to notice it. The more it looked at the moon,the more it yearned for it.The little heart blossomed with a pleasant feeling.By now, the bird was completely oblivious of the nightmare.Mortal struggle had already given way to a struggle witihn.Reason and logic sinking into temptations and desires.The matters of the mind subdued by the affairs of the heart.As clouds passed over the moon,a heart ached to have a glimpse of it.The moon came out smiling at the edge of the cloud and a heart leapt with joy.Unreasonable, but where can you find reason for loving and longing.The intellect gives way to an emotion.Emotion that cannot be comprehended and should not be attempted to by our mean minds.

The euphoria turned into desire, then longing and finally passion.The innocent heart decided to fly to the moon.It took a brief look at its nest.The warmth,coziness and safety were not enough to deter it.It was no more of afraid of the dark like a little child,instead it felt a maturity growing within,ready to take up challenges and uncertainties.The pangs of love were too much to bear.After all, love is all about expanse beyond limits.An eternal flight of the soul.A life beyond life.It felt a surge of power in its wings and of emotions in a little heart.

A leap of faith,and it soared into the unknown.Riding on the wings of love, it flew east,towards the moon which arouses desires and towards the sun which brings hope and color to all life.Although it was too cold but it had to reach the moon.It fixed its gaze at the moon as the chill began to grow on its wings.It flew long but seemed to get no closer.The moon elusively kept appearing farther away.A little heart ached at the thought but love is dedication.With its wings enervated and eyelids covered with tiny flakes of snow,it felt impossible to open its eyes even.But who knows of something which love cannot offer!Although a hard fact that lingers is-love doesn't ask for lesser things.It continued the flight.One love, a thousand desires and a million lives to be sacrificed on its altar.It flew long in the bitterly cold night but seemed like ages passed.A lone and melancholy flight of infinite joy and endless suffering headed to an end. Then dazed by the effort and life sapped out of its little body,it fell like a stone in the faraway hills.A bereaved and broken heart touched only by the eerie silence of night was what survived.

On the mounds of snow lay with its eyes wide open,a lifeless body still staring heavenwards as if expecting some divine requital of its undying love.A loving soul on its eternal flight.A promise to love well kept and a faith in life sadly departed.

Now every night,the moon comes back in its full glory,painting the canvas of earth in black and white.The enticing moon and bewitching chiaruscuro together wait in the silence of night to charm a little pigeon.Banyan trees cast dark shadows of gloom inspired by the charming night.Pigeon-mothers still wait on the edge of a nest looking around bewildered, neither taken by charm nor fear.Just another heart aching with LOVE.