Feature: Tikuli Dogra Day 5

The Spirit of the Night

The spirit of the night swept across

The marbled floor of the sky.

Her scintillating black robe,

Studded with sparkling zephyrs.

The unclouded moon brilliantly shone,

like a tiara on the bride's cascading hair.

Graceful, radiant and burning with desire.

Aroused by her lover's call.

Casting a spell on everything she passed

making her majestic presence felt.

The handsome sun stood draped in his glory,

waiting in breathless impatience.

For the love of his life to come,

And merge in nuptial bliss.

Two young lovers, mesmerized by the

intoxicating revelation,

Lay intertwined the wild vines about the tree,

their lips locked in fiery kiss.

Their hearts beating as one, a moment held in time

Unrestrained, ecstatic, intense.

© Tikuli Dogra (Published on Associated Content)

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Q&A

Q: Where does your inspiration come from? (Nature? Music? Friends? Famous Poets?)

A: Nature is my muse, from the little grain of sand to the planets and stars everything in this universe inspires me. Apart from that music, art , people who have been and still are a part of my life, my mother, friends, fellow poets, writers, especially the love of my life has been a strength behind my writing. I gather even the smallest of experiences in my life and treasure it for each moment is an irreplaceable miracle. All of life inspires me The beauty of the local language certainly captures the flavor of the place and culture. India has a rich cultural heritage and it has influenced me immensely. Since childhood I have been reading very prolific writers of Hindi, Urdu and also translations of Sanskrit literature. Every little thing about my homeland has a story to tell. I get my inspiration from it’s vast cultural spiritual and historical heritage and even the social customs, rituals, folklore and mythology have influenced me.

Q: Who are your favorite writers/poets?

A: I read the Indian poets regularly from the Ancient ones ( Kalidas)to the modern ones( Maithilisharan Gupt, Mahadevi Verma, Dinkar, Amrita Pritam etc. Rabindranath Tagore is one of my most loved poets. Rumi has been a great inspiration. Poetry for me crosses all the barriers and I read everything that I get my hands on. I never limit myself to one poet or writer.I love to read the works of Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, Jose Marti, e.e.cummings, Edgar Allan Poe, most of the Romantic and Victorian poets like Blake, Coleridge, Browning, Emerson etc. I also love to read the Urdu shayars like Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ghalib, Firaq, Gulzar, Kaifi Azami.

Q: Who are your writing influences and what was it about them that inspired you?

A: I am a student, a learner. I do not call myself a writer, poet as yet. There is still time for that to happen. My writings may have some flavor of my reading of Romantic Poets , Poet seers or the ancient Indian Poets till now but I do not follow any specific poetic style of any one poet.The brilliance of language, the subtle humor or sometimes the simplicity or narration in some poets inspires me.