Transparent Men Poem by Madhu Kailas

Once a man
braved to walk through the sun.
Thereafter he cast no shadows,
and colours could choose him no more.

His sight was usurped by keepers of light
who threatened to turn him
into nothingness
and less.

Some hushed in spite
that he drank darkness from bright,
and spun threads of silence
to trap our mind.

His beloved met him on his return
in the open, bathed by liquid sun.
And she asked, 'Tell me how is it there? '
So he said, 'Wish we had words to limn
how beautiful are transparent men! '

'And love? ' she implored.
He drew her near and said,
'Love they know nothing of.
It is only on this side of the sun
for us to see ourselves.'

Happily she held his hand,
and recounted when she was a child,
she had a glass doll
through whom she could see it all.