Like the dark shadow of a white flower

the full moon follows the lover.

Like the dark swan in a dark river

the maiden seeks her shadow.

Mirror images, anxious, dark,

will supersede the one out there.

I put out my hand to reach the sky

while caught in the flux of the river,

I dip my fingers in the fleeting clouds

to stop the moon, the stars and the time.

I wish the moon, the flower and the swan

were all here with me solve the riddle of Time.

Sushama Karnik.