Bats

Bats so black
Etched upon a
Blue black sky.
Wings like waves
Upon a page
Precocious at any age.

Wings together as in prayer
Then serrated cutting air.
And sailing in the sea of sky
Black on black
As night draws nigh.

And now the full moon bounces up
Makes a picture book of shapes
Of angled stars and angled wings
And scissored stars cut out of sight
With jagged wings and noiseless flight
The bats come streaming through the night.


Malati Shah
2009
New Delhi