My Sweet Girl
Giddy baby, giggles and dimples,
hardly ever cried
Except when time for Mommy’s awaking,
With patient eyes she spied.
Humming with gurgling baby sounds,
Hair wispy softly curled,
Watching down the hall to catch me,
By precious, my sweet girl.
Quietly at play all the while,
two fingers in her mouth,
By chance If hearing my door open,
Only then she cried aloud.
If I could skip across the hall,
Bathroom just across from my room,
It must be done without a sound
I would quickly zoom.
But if she saw me my sweet girl,
would loudly make it known
Cries interpreted “Aha! I see you!
Your cover has now been blown!”
I looked at the little girl sitting beside me on the swings.
I looked at how small she was for the seat the swing provided.
I spied the cuts her long sleeves could not hide from sight.
I saw the dress, the one her father gave her.
I saw her swaying, holding the bars like a lifeline.
I never planned on meeting her by the swings, but—maybe—
I, in her twisted mind, had orchestrated the meeting.
I watched as she paid me no mind.
Ink stained her, red bleeding through her existence.
I watched as they pulled her away.
I wanted to protest, for the swings were where she had only ever found peace.
I discovered that peace has a way of leaving us when we need it the most.
I guess that's the funny thing about peace:
we bask in it without knowing when we might truly need it.
I watched as they tossed her into the tiny grave.
I realized how small she was, barely even three feet.
Graves and crypts-
The day should have worn sorrow's grey,
Instead, all I could see was the beaming sun,the rustling leaves, the creaking swings, and-
the specter of the girl I used to be.
Reports they redact and hide
Experts who tried can’t chide
Appliance of science denied
Us all being taken for a ride
On some helter skelter slide
With no shelter in or outside
Swelter in this delta of snide
Fried by fake national pride
As the past & future collide
Know on us all have spied
Our secrets they have pried
Data for advertisers supplied
Time to choose your side
Surmise AI guys pie eyed
In Geneva should be tried
For war crimes can’t abide
Yes it is up to us to decide
To stop the slop of the tide
What term history’s applied
Call it genocide or ecocide?
Either way everything died !
Come sit upon my deck, it is covered
with birdsong; bedecked in peace.
Come tarry; let me pour a warm beverage
of chocolate, tea or coffee. Listen
to the tweets, twitters, bird-sweets.
Come sit close, listen to nothing at all,
but the peace between two friends.
We will wait, we will watch for a.m. deer.
Quietly, we sit, side by side, as the sun
gives rise, reveling in God’s mercy -
day by day, with Summer bare feet,
sound mind, promise of newness.
Come sit, as friends do, then eventually,
their lips part with a passing remark.
Nothing cool or wise, just a soothing tone,
that lets the silent world know there’s life.
Quietude trains, it is painted with rain
and wildlife. Come, as the cool of morning,
touches a heart of flesh and pink pyjamas.
Come, as I sip my two-serving cup of peace
and quiet, whistles, hooting, no hollering.
There’s an occasional chirp, rarely a deer.
Here’s hoping. Yesterday, I spied one alone,
who hid behind a tree, momentarily, though
it did not see me. Come, I say, come. I watch.
We’d watch, or talk, or both. Perhaps, I’ve said
too much. Let’s listen, as my skin steams,
from my guzzled caffeine. Birds dance before me.
A worm that floated in a brook
spied a fish, shivered and shook,
asked himself, "Who needs
a fisherman and his evil deeds?",
and quietly slipped off his hook.
He is still a puppy but weighs eighty pounds
and when he walks he shakes the ground
His bark is constant and very loud yet high
Cosmo warnings are not to be denied
Another dog or stray cat or two he spied
a fat little squirrel or folks walking by
Grasshopper at the end of his nose
Sassy ignoring him again I suppose
He eats good and drinks up a lake
he'll eat baloney but eyes your steak
Cosmo always sleeps in the doorway
tell him to move he never obeys
On his back and his paws motion
to scratch his chest if you got the notion
His double white coat he loves to share
for his silky white hair is everywhere
He is more gentle and watches everyone
likes to give sloppy kisses with his big tongue
He sleeps a lot but is up all night
he watches till satisfy his world is right
If he lies next to you his big paws he will use
to push you away to give him more room to snooze
If you play with the mighty boy dog
he chews your hands and arms like a log
His face is sweet and he loves his treats
Cosmo my giant makes my home complete.
Rare enhances his beauty
yellow feathers is the sun is bright
Are you for real such an odd sight
the yellow cardinal flew from the sky
perched on a tree branch and spied
bird feeder in the yard below
feasting on seeds cardinal bird of yellow
One in a million most are fiery red
but this fellow his feathers yellow instead
Black mask and tan in his wings
the cardinal appeared first in spring
Yellow feathers crown his head
tail of tan and yellow no red
The color such a bright and vibrant hue
for this guy being red wouldn't do
More northern in their region be
but grace us southerns with him to see
I hope the yellow cardinal becomes common to
in Tennessee a white cardinal is there a blue?
from a centreless fulcrum
pulsates the beat of God’s drum
sensed as soundless bliss thunder
witnessed by us in wonder
grace as bestowed is imbibed
and light of God within spied
which we share with those who pair
that all be thus self-aware
first our will to God we bend
then in silence we ascend
with all doings done by God
as we simply look on awed
the girl who learned
she tiptoed in an out
unnoticed by the elders
they had no idea
she was soaking up their knowledge
spied upon by an enthusiastic learner
a lifelong learner
the woman who would learn ancestral norms
that would elevate her to the highest power in the land
I lingered by the seaside on a cold and frosty morning,
The dark clouds overhead were billowing out a warning
Feeling them calling to me in a manner of some gloom.
That I would be better off watching them from my room.
I aimed to linger longer so took no notice of the clouds.
An imposing storm would surely keep away the crowds.
I gleefully watched the tiny sand crabs scurry to and fro,
Sensing the storm coming, weren’t sure which way to go.
I casually lingered up the stairs that led to the main street,
There I spied the ice-cream shop, decided to have a treat.
Flavour would me a momentous decision. It took a while.
Now which, Banana Rama or Choc Cherry made me smile.
Enjoying my cone, I lingered on, watching folk all scatter.
Rain by now was pouring down, to me it didn’t matter.
Many were in the little café, no doubt they took refuge.
Looking over to the sea, the waves now were really huge.
Thunder crashed and lightning flashed, the rain fell down.
I lingered slowly under awnings to the other side of town.
Watched cars slowing down and splash in a puddle or two.
I lingered further, might as well I had nothing better to do.
we live within boundaries of our skin
even though mind cognises and heart feels
so with each life breath we anew begin
search for the source of bliss whose caress heals
mind has served its purpose and must now rest
that our heart radiating love and light
no longer by ego cravings impressed
invokes God’s grace ushering bliss delight
bliss thus enabled but wisdom denied
we wander with wonder looking at stars
for though divine light within has been spied
both free and yet bound we carry life’s scars
bliss energised silence ushers deep peace ~
doing nothing we await our release
Eleven years ago,
while rambling in my car
along the bank of Iril river
at Kongpal Moirangpurel,
a serene countryside
I spied Ureirom plants growing there,
their flowers blooming.
Long ago in our agrarian society
their fruits dyed women’s clothes pink -
done indigenously in every household
by the womenfolk.
Now the old art has faded
year by year with time
and the plants, once grown
in abundance are no longer seen.
Next day, in scattering showers,
with a camera I went there
and captured photographs
of the plants long unseen,
wondering how they grew there
while absent elsewhere.
Today, after eleven years,
when I strolled there again
the ureirom plants were gone
among the riverbank’s weeds -
Once women’s favorite,
now out of fashion,
neglected, nowhere to be seen.
I flew across the sea
to view the greatest art
though beauty I did see
it did not hold my heart.
I climbed the highest peak
beheld the grandest part
though glory I did seek
it did not hold my heart.
I saw lovely gardens
their colors stood apart
and though I could admire
it did not hold my heart.
I spied a humble church
sat under altar’s arch
the cross, yes! my soul search
for Christ, He holds my heart.
Five decades ago, one dusk after field duty
I stood at Moirang Lamkhai by the roadside
waiting for the passenger bus.
No bus came the last one might had gone I feared.
Then I spied an old man, dhoty hitched to knees,
shirt of cotton coarse sleeves long.
Bare foot he strode in the hush of the twilight.
I hailed, " Uncle has the last bus gone ? "
" Yes, it has gone, no more tonight." he replied,
" Homeward bound ? Don't worry stay at my house tonight."
No hotel in the bazaar but a pure hospitality.
We walked the road, his voice was gentle.
" See how the land developed - going on the road
feels like going on my home's floor (earthen)."
Then Gopaljee Sharma,Asstt Registrar C.S.
rolled in by office jeep post duty.
He called me aboard : I thanked the kind elder,
bade farewell, returned to my residence.
Now Moirang Bazar boasts hotels.
But such a kind hospitable old man,
which was the characteristics of people in the old days,
is not seen again.
she does not have a cat, a bat or an owl I was told
What does she have? Is she young or quite old?
We want to surprise you, said my cousins that day
A few minutes later I spied an alligator coming my way
On that back of that gator was a lady wearing a pointed hat.
That’s her isn’t it, I said, feeling delighted, glad it was not a cat.
For I am terrified of cats, one bit me when I was very young.
Petting an alligator might be insanely fun.
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