Through the thick outgrowth of trees,
Beneath the dark sky with cloud,
The wind created a mysterious move,
Absolutely flamboyant as it swished aloud!

Those mysterious pairs of wings, dark and thin –
Flew past me, swiftly with a swing,
Enjoying the game of hide and seek,
And suddenly, flashing in the night sky as a dark fringe!

Camouflaged by the Halloween’s nocturnal sky,
They played in pairs, or may be, more,
‘What nimble creatures are these?’, I wondered,
That frolicked around, while people would mostly snore!

Always I thought of them as sinister beings,
In malefic stories they have always grabbed a place;
They appear after dark, out in the open,
And, before dawn, hide in dismal places, seeking solace.

Awestruck by their spooky but playful flight,
I found their path quite hard to trace,
I felt then I must leave the place (where I was standing)
Or, I shall look, as if, intruding into their space.

They rule the darkness of the night,
No one can challenge their authority;
This is their time, but their reign will last for short,
Till the moment when sun outshines their naïve audacity……

-Dr. Shilpa Chakrabarti