I remember vividly the first words
I ever uttered as a kid
Up Nepa!
The only words that broke the silence
In my lonely street
Dangling on dusty rooftops
Of resurrected slumbers
And blinking bulbs
Up Nepa!
The only song that hung on my lips
And stuck to my ribs
A sonorous lullaby
Of muffled applauses
Slowly fading away
Of rumpled ball gowns
Begging to be pressed
Of rickety ceiling fans
Yearning to spin
Of flat batteries
Starving to death
On days when my bulb beams with smiles
Making my dark room blush in disguise
First a flash
A little high
Then low
Patches of colours on my wall
Kaleidoscopic in its might
For we were friends with benefits
Its rubrics?
White lies
Sneaking in and out
Playing hide and seek
Flirty in nature
Electricity is an August visitor
Where I come from
Overly expectant like a pregnant woman
We await its arrival
Up Nepa!
How do I count on you
When you do not look close to numbers?
For the umpteenth time
Frolicking with my mind
A little belch from the sky
And you vanish in thin air
Of accumulated bills
From unused consumptions
Sapping us dry
An adventure
With clogged wheels
Questions drip from our heavy eyes
Silence gush from our sealed lips
Who can question its audacity
The last resort?
The deafening whispers
Oozing from competitive generators
Nothing’s left
Of my brittle hope
But a dash!
© Michelle