Driving Through A Winter Storm

By Lekha Murali

Swirling flakes fall from above,

Dancing around stoic street lamps – giggling, teasing,

As they fall, carpeting the earth.

Cotton tufts swell from below

Gets caught in the headlight,

Make a beeline to the windshield – melts away.

Dancing swirls multiply,

Fills the air, obscuring vision.

Moving pods slow down, blinks intermittently.

Howling winds gather the dancing dots

Slaps it unevenly on all creation,

Blanketing everything in white.

Angry gusts blow the powder, into wispy white monsters

That dance shapelessly, engulfing the pods.

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Roads turn into zebra snakes –

Narrow black bands within broad swaths of slippery white;

Wobbling the wheels of the moving pods.

The pods slow down to a cautious crawl,

With laser-sharp focus and bated breath,

Mindful of the lives that lay strapped within.

Red-rubies roll forward on a slow strand,

Ivory pearls roll toward on a slow strand,

Until they veer away to their destinations.