An old year wraps up, unwrapping a new one; but only in Man's humble measure. Time unfolds relentlessly, indifferent to any measure. This moment is indistinguishable from all other moments but for the note Man chooses to take of it. It is a moment timely as any other to take note of the realities that accompany human vision and those that outlast it, and reflect on how ephemerality itself constitutes Eternity.

Beneath the Moon; Beside the Moon

The scene past the train's window speeds and streams...
My view spans delight's and boredom's extremes.

The full moon keeps pace with each single train...
Motionless, on each frame does it remain!

The world beneath the moon seems quite still too...
I wonder how dusk's plainness my sights drew!

Now, from the void a hill its presence claims...
With the moon it will share but a few frames...

Now, in the distance a forest fire burns!
The staid twilight scene at once florid turns!

The fire, still burning, is first out of sight...
The unfleeting hill flits into the night...

The night outlasts this play of light and shade...
And the traveling moon, unmoved has stayed!

The dark on which just drowsy sights dwell...
Somehow on the mind's eye casts its own spell!

Arvind Iyer

En route from Nashik in the Nanded-Mumbai Tapovan Express
Maharashtra, India
1800 - 2200 hrs 31st December 2009