Now begins dawn
smeared with saffron and camphor
sacred ash and vermilion
offering petals of full-blown roses
as you glide
in an open-skied dream
over the red-earthed slopes of Thirupathi
where storks fly high
and black peacocks live

Home to the patron of the mountain lands
the Three-Pronged One with lotus-red feet
and scarlet-leafed gleaming spear
the righteous arrow of warfare

by Dr. Ahila Sambamoorthy

Dr. Ahila Sambamoorthy's poems are Dravidian in tradition and draw largely on the landscapes, philosophies, religion, and customs of South India. She believes that poetry should emulate music, or aspire towards the condition of music, and thus she likes her poems to resound with the lyric voice of dream and imagination, such as is evoked by Franz Schubert's mesmerizing melodies. Dr. Sambamoorthy is a member of the Faculty of Languages at the National University of Malaysia in Selangor, West Malaysia.