This Dark Diwali

This Diwali
We said no prayers
We bought no clothes
No guests smiled at us across the room.

We walked up a hill
And lay down to gaze up at the star-strewn sky
God's dark rangoli.
The universe gazed back with bottomless eyes
Willing us
To take a step towards the new year.

We lay still, not moving
For we knew that down the hill
Was the old year in a new yellow dress
Waiting.