Reflection

- Bhanu Bhakta Bista

When bulbs are dead

candles wake up

pushing the darkness away to the corners

at the backdrop

and there wake my hopes and sensations up - alive...

Darkness is like a dictator - a great chancer

When light rules

it hides somewhere around

or just underneath the bed; as if defeated

secretly colonizing the unseen and unvisited

And as chance befriends

re-establishes its kingdom.

With a little candle in my hand

I believe I can stand sovereign 

guarded by the pillars of knowledge

I've accumulated so far,

But fear intervenes at times

if it happens like the candle

that dies out after a few hours of its survival.

Sometimes -

in these hours of silence

candles reflect me in themselves

and there I see 

hopes still flickering

on the walls of life...