Sun rise in Abu

One morning, after innumerable years,

I watched the entire gamut of a sun rise over the hills…

That awesome sight of a a still, chilled night

Sprinkled with the glitterati of the night stars

Never visible in polluted Ahmedabad.

The rising of a slow glimmer of light

Accompanied by the plaintive cry of a loudspeaker fed azaan.

Atop the sky sparkled two stars

One atop the other

Way above the dark horizon.

Then a glimmer of a pale copper, or was it saffron or orange

Varying shades rose in strings and strips.

At times eerily resembling the Rings of Saturn

Straddling the guardian peaks of Abu.

It was a long way to sunrise

Abu’s Rings of Saturn changed color and shape

Now ring formations;  now climbing Sirius ones and others

As the morning mist enveloped the entire city down below.

We waited.  My daughter and I

Taking deep breaths of the clear cold mountain air

Looking around  as dark shapes around came alive

Into rocks surrounded by variegated greens.

At   the stunning terrace garden  below

With the wrought iron furniture symbolic of the good life of long ago.

Hearing the peals of the temple bells; those of the boarding schools

The rising chirps of a numerous variety of birds

The raucous craw of the crows again after ever so long

And the stillness of the Nakki lake further below

Until finally the cool fresh mountain air started to warm

And the Sun rose majestically through the hills

To cast all before it in dark shadow

Before light shone free over all.