Bhangra

 
Dhol.
Feet melt.
Head nods to a magic beat.
Flesh becomes air.
Sarson fields sway with my hips.
A phulkari moment explodes
on my lips.
I whistle colour –
Magenta, pink, red, green.
Time calls. Time crumbles.
I’m a marigold lasso
with a galaxy caught in my swirl.
Do you hear my palms
clapping away Fate?
One foot churns the air.
My twirl – white makkhan!
My sweep – thick malai!
Taste the rhythm of joy on my tongue!
Nerves charged with electric gold.
Shoulders shrug the world away.
Atlas is tempted.
The only way to carry the world
is to make it dance with you.
My plait tosses the flowers of yesterday.
Tomorrow’s fragrance longs
to hang by a shining ribbon.
The intensity bends the mind,
till it ceases to exist.
I hear a thousand cymbals of joy.
The ache of happiness
moves to bhangra beats…
And you?
How can you just sit there?

- Harvinder