A Realm of Extremes

[A poem about Manic-Depressive Illness]

A spectrum of light penetrates--

Galaxies as tantalizing as mine
Enkindled, I am--with burning passion
And an aching thirst in my eyes

I, Hera, the fiercest flare of divinities

Even saintlier than Dionysus’s wine
Although Zeus seduced infidelities,
I am paramount beauty and divine

Fingers waltz on archaic ivories

All of my ballades brilliantly resonate
Classicals raise the hackles of my inner beast:
Ravenous mortal, but enslaved by serenade

My twofold universe gyrates lickety-split,

Motherland’s in a plight of conflagration
For time’s too swift to be sought—not even White Rabbit
Can chase her from dusk ‘til dawn

Then kabaaam! A tempest springs afore--

A tumultuous lightning on the horizon,
‘Tis a destroyer of Dandelions to bloom nevermore
In a wild meadow that transfigured to a dungeon
 A dilly-dally with Oizys beneath a Guava tree
Causes leaflets to fall, wither and desiccate
To the tune I no longer chant to thee--
Like benumbed stroke of nerves dead and delicate

Again a spectrum of light penetrates—

This time an orbit of ashen and gray
Endless chime of quietude reverberates,
‘Til the moonlight gleams on rivers someday