Twilight

By Tvishaa Vijay

The earth held its breath, 

Dust suspended weightless in unmade air.

Time had not yet begun its weaving, 

Space lay folded, silent with waiting,

“And somewhere in that vast universe, 

When darkness fell on someone, 

The light was their shadow”- a dream, in the hush; 

A gentle infinity cradling what might be born in a rush. 

Verily, the eternal heavens cast upon the mortal earth

The gentle herald of clarity. 

Doth pierce the veil of night like a silver lance, 

Revealing all hidden truth through a mere glance 

With its first breath, 

Light wounded the very darkness that bore it

Warmth surging, stinging the skin of silence 

And the shadow, startled, drew back to clean its wound;

Too proud to weep, too ancient to swoon 

The earth finally exhaled; a sigh or relief 

As the light’s spark finally withdrew 

In their fading shine, the dark laid gentle hands, 

Gathering what fragments dawn had shattered. 

It hummed the song of reminiscence; 

A soothing, forgiving hymn

Older than time, tender as dusk,

cradling the day’s last sparks. 

And for a breath’s span, 

Light saw itself within the eyes of shadow, 

Bound in a ceaseless dance, 

Neither claiming dominion alone. 

For light without shadow, 

Is after all none but a hollow blaze. 

Shadow without light, 

A cold and an empty shade. 

Their final breath however, became mine- 

And within my skull, there lay a tumultuous turmoil. 

The heavens thus collapsed inward, becoming thought

Where light desires to name all it touches,

And shadow guards all that cannot be spoken. 

Their battle tore the hollows of my being

Darkness cradling pain like armor. 

For every gleam, a scar; 

For every veil, a shuddering truth.

Until the sparks fell into the hollows-

They once scarred. 

And in that tranquil silence, 

Light found the shadow’s shelter gentle, 

And shadow saw its reflection in the flame 

Within me they met, not as foes but as halves,  

and silence became whole again.  

Their dance finally slowed to a breath, 

Skin to skin, unfamiliar warmth replacing what was once cold 

Shadow rested its head upon lights shoulder, 

And the world, caught in a trance-

forgot who had ever been the brighter one. 

For in each heart, dusk lingers after dawn,

and no soul shines without its shadow beside it.

In quiet grace the Earth sighed,

what was once broken is now unified. 

By Tvishaa Vijay