In moonlight-drenched darkness

I found you that day, on the way back home.
Clutching the sleeve of your shirt,
I had gazed at you.
I had wandered that day
along your railway line,
wrapping my hands around two arms
you had bound me
with what thread, for no reason at all?

In the inner room, you tuned the tanpura,
began a song, floating a raft on tears!
You threw no questions, made no demands that evening,
didn't even ask then if I loved you or not,
some quiet words of the silent night,
you strung only garlands of words around me!

No heavy breath sounded even in whispers,
you wrapped me in a heap of busyness
with songs, stories and poetry!
You lit a lamp in my room,
gentle feelings came to play!
Words gathered on lips,
you drew kohl-lines across the clouds,
fireflies in the night sky
gathered in assembly — ah, what a festival of colors!

I have walked very far, through time immemorial, oceans,
turbulent waves, broken compass, shattered sails,
you were the one who then took the helm,
poured love's nectar into my burning chest,
even then you wouldn't let me be lost,
instead taught me this card game called life!

I searched that day, on the way back home,
clutching the sleeve of your shirt,
I had stared at you.
I was lost that day
in your dense green forest,
my face hidden in your chest even then,
you had bound me
with what thread, for no reason at all?
I recognized you truly
in that moonlit deep darkness of that day.