1
How does one take it?
Is it a leaf
or is it a moth that pretends to be a leaf?
Is it a leaf
or is it the floor on which it rests?
Is that one a rope
or a snake that dissembles a rope?
“Bhramara” in Sanskrit
is at once “bee”
and “turning”,
changing!
Not to speak of “bhrama”,
illusion.
—
2
The Stepwell
I stand
in front of the grand stepwell
to take a picture of its entrance
The evening sun behind me
includes my own shadow in it
The slow descent
down the gigantic octagonal structures
up to the water deep down under
itself a cleansing experience
Not to speak of the
dirty water into which
visitors had thrown coins
perhaps mistaking it for a shrine
Perhaps the all-knowing sun
wanted me to understand
that the body is just a shadow
of the many wells within!
(On a visit to the stepwell at Adalaj, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.)
—
3
Awakening
I wake up
from my afternoon nap
from next to what look like
the strings of a veena.
As my bleary eyes clear up
I find
a neatly stacked pile of books
that remain untouched
many months after you had read them.
Maybe I hadn’t treated you with all the respect you deserved!
Let me recompense
by strumming them now
one by one
one by one.
*
Very nice poems Sridhar Garu…
Congratulations..
Thanks Ramulugaru.
I am glad you liked them.
you from kiriburu?