Fingers Grasping at Nothingness

By Hani Manjunath

They spend their lives Reaching for that light With desperate fingers Spindled and grasping And waiting all the while For another to reach To suffuse theirs with warmth To drive away what has Seeped into their bones Become a part of themselves They ache to see themselves As a bead of water In an endless tide A single star In a canvas full of ‘em To not stand solitary Under a decrepit spotlight If only To feel less alone If only To feel a little hope

By Hani Manjunath