L

Lighthouse

by Rayla Noel
TBR-19
My son has ears filled with light
It is filled so hard with light it
Shuts out the noise. I pray he heals of blindness,
but times like now, I forget,
see he’s a lighthouse,
A lantern room and prism, 1000 watt candle,
Mercurial sunsets and rise, it’s colours spread like
Ink in the horizon. Sometimes there is blindness
So the rest of us can hear the light. A heartbreaking strategy, but
This keeps me, ha ha, a lighthouse keeper!
Rayla Noel

Rayla Noel is an artist/writer, who began her career broadcasting for FEBA Radio (Bangalore, airing from Seychelles). She moved to Mumbai in 1990. After a much longed for child, and a three-year-long undiagnosed illness she joined a slum school for street kids as a story teller/ art teacher -the toughest thing encountered to date.
Born in 1962, Rayla grew in lighthouse compounds from Kanyakumari to Mandvi, Gujarat, 200 kilometres from Indian no man's land. She was homeschooled on an island in Odisha, where she fell in love with tribal people (featured in her paintings). Rayla draws from life, loves people, and thinks art & poetry are some of the best ice breakers humanity will ever have.