Some days, caffeine is a painkiller
I add to my noon cuppa
And an espresso size at night
It doesn’t keep me awake
Quite the reverse

But it does bridge the distance betwixt
Day and night; pain and being me
Bringing me back to the threshold of energy
And in some ways, optimism

The way Raag Marva shows us a glimpse
Both of darkness and the departing day
Like godhuli, it burnishes the twilight

…

Lina Krishnan is a poet, artist and writer in India. Her work can be seen in a gamut of Indian and global magazines, also in seventeen anthologies of poetry. She is a keen birder and anthophile. Nature is a perennial muse.