Venus in the sky of a moonless night,

a swan in a shimmering lake of dawn,

single on the occult path strewn with specks of light,

the stillness of the mist in a lake without a ripple,

she comes with the dawn, and melts

with the coming of the sun.

For more than a quarter of a year

the Venus shines in the east

only to disappear for long,

and comes back with opulence

once again in the west.

She resonates with lovers.

Her reverberations fall on earth

and brighten her occult path.

As like an angel cursed

she stays for a borrowed interval of time

tossing her mystical rays on the evening sky

in waves of orange, blue and mauve

in the arms of the darkness waiting at the end of the sky.

When the evening arrives, I pray,

: Let the light of Venus stay.

There are innumerable pages yet to be written;

they are fair and blank.

Venus shine; be not dim.

Fear not, faint not, hold up

the lamp which we can dimly see.

Show us beauty, show us sense.

Venus, shine and spread your rays.

Sushama Karnik

May 2020