My Mummy

 

Can you hear me mummy
I am sure you can
When you were here
You heard even what we did not say.
 
You thought we did not care for you
But we cared and wanted you,
To be with us a wee bit longer.
Hats off to my brother who nursed you till the very end.
 
Please take care of us from heaven above.
For a time will come
When we will be on bed
This time all alone, but hopefully we will meet you there.
 

The gown that changed my life

 

                     The walking trail would take me there
To the garden, before the lovers arrive
Bound in love in one another’s arms.
Oblivious of the world around.
 
Let me reach before the dawn
To relish
The chorus of sparrows and cuckoos.
Till the sun spreads its light into the day.
 
The puddles of water easy to wade
Bushes and shrubs all over the way
A thousand flies over my face
But my love for nature kept me going.
 
Rows of houses on either side
Some with a roof of leaves and twigs
Others with porticos open to sky.
And a couple of them two stories tall.
 
I hastened my steps towards the park
To wash myself in nascent rays
Of the breaking sun,
The golden light warmed my face.
 
Saw a silky cloud of verdant and gold, 
Descend like a parasol
Sliding from a terrace above
A whiff of freshly washed linen,
 
The silky gown with all its contours,
Landed on my face in the gentle breeze.
There is a message, I thought
To meet a damsel as pretty as can be.
 
I gathered the gown rushed up the stairs,
Two steps at a time, and rang the chimes
Kept waiting for minutes that felt like hours.
To meet the lady who fits the contours.
 
An angel stepped out.
Pretty and stunning.
There was no match in this land
As beautiful as this village belle.
 
I paused and thanked the gown,  
The gown that changed my life  
And gave me a reason to live  
With an angel then on.

Selflessly yours – a tree

 

Selflessly yours – a tree

Tree, cynosure of nature’s eyes
Standing tall amidst the woods
Or at the peripherals like a sentinel.
Living selflessly with head held high.
 
Lending its branches to birds and bees.
The canopy of twigs and the crown of leaves
Eveready to protect the earth
From torching sun and torrents of rain.
 
The tree lived on and on
For a hundred years, it still stood tall.
But not forever, for that day was soon to come.
When the roots give way.
 
The stress of a sentry is hard to handle,
As the earth beneath weakened,
Soil loosened, and the crown now heavier
And too big to hold.
 
The tree slowly leaned and slanted.
The earthly forces guiding all the way,
Leisurely at first,
Till it fell with a thud.
 
The earth around lamenting the fall
Of the motherly tree, an icon
That outlived so many
Giving succor to all.
 
Little did it know that even in death,
Its dead root, trunk and branches feed all
Orchids, ferns and cacti.
Termites, lichens, worms and caterpillars.
 
The selfless tree in life and death,
Regenerates a million lives
For a hundred years before it dies
And many decades thereafter.

 (A shoutout to the trees of Valparai, a hill station in the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu)