A thousand torches and me!

Cicadas were squeaking
along a path nonexistent in the blindness
while the wind hummed, licking at leaves
which spread in wild transfiguration's
and the echo of chappals flapping
dueled with the eeriness of darkness
pulled out some sordid memories;
stories of yakshi's with wicked canines
bathing in the scent of Paala flowers,
a scene rendered so real and supernatural
by the cigarette smoke in the air!
The dosa and chutney churned
below my diaphragm which
oscillated like the piston
of an engine sucking in
my obsession with gaseous venoms!
Balancing the ashen butt on the lips,
the sacred ashes ever-ready to fall, I
buckle my mundu in a last moment
scare of finding myself naked
in a lane of angry blackness
conquered by visions of white clad yakshi's
dying even in their deaths for
a drop of blood, with its warmth and gush,
driven by the addictive
gesticulations of my nicotinized mind!
Shivering inundated in spite of
the weary wanderer in me tragically
selecting this day for a leisurely stroll
counting on the late-coming monsoon,
I stay transfixed at the spectacle before me!
A thousand flickering fireflies perch on
the tree blocking the way, the wind seeping
through the avalanche like air from the nostrils
and them sparkling like burning flakes in a fire!
The glittery colossal mass lets the butt
fall down from my lips - all dried up -
as I step forward in awe and surrender
letting out the last smoke pass away
dissolving in the vastness around!