Asmi Kumar’s Poem ‘ A Dusky Moment’
By Mahadev Desai


Asmi Kumar is a promising 14 year-old 9th Grader at Northwestern Middle School, Milton, Georgia. Asmi considers math her greatest passion. Asmi was a national MATHCOUNTS finalist this past May, and won 2nd place Maths Award at the prestigious Broadcom Masters Competition. In her spare time, she enjoys writing poems and playing piano. “The music a piano can create is beautiful and so relaxing,” says Asmi, who has been playing for almost nine years. She also enjoys singing in the choir and playing basketball with friends. “It’s a perfect activity for anyone to have fun!” she says.Asmi also tutors other students and hosts maths circles during summer.

One day, Asmi was looking at some wildlife pictures taken by Mr.G.V.Rao on his recent trip to Kenya. Her mom said that when Asmi, who loves animals saw Mr.Rao’s pictures, she was so moved by Rao’s photography story. “The pictures are so vivid that she cried to the extent and choked, "the baby dear was so soft, cute and full of life, it didn't deserve to die", she said, but at the same time she also knew that this is life in the wild and no one is killing there just for the sake of killing but to live and survive. Rao’s photography is magical!

Asmi plans to study computer science, math, and music in the future.Asmi’s journey, full of promise and as yet untapped potential continues.

 

A Dusky Moment The evening sky is streaked with fierce gold, bold orange, and soft magenta Miles and miles of tall, thick prairie grass stretch across the African savanna It dances to the whispers and murmurs of the wind A lone tree stands in the distance. A giraffe towers over the plain and watches her baby frolic in the grass Beautiful and magnificent, sleek and intelligent. An eerie silence creeps into the air but she is oblivious. The light dims, and the sun is setting Soon darkness will arrive. A pair of eyes considers, contemplates, conceives a plan nearby Steely and cold? Or strong and determined? A rustle in the grass, and the mother suspects an intruder She turns. A nightmare comes alive. She is panic-stricken, her baby frozen For a minute, the whistling wind is silent. Run away, struggling, gone. Night is falling. Within moments, one mother bounds over to her children wrestling playfully in the grass. Within moments, another’s world is changed forever. The next day is new and bright What had happened faded into yesterday. However dark, however dangerous, however daunting Nature runs its course.