April

It's April and the bodhi tree

Is in leaf, the old quietly leaving

For the new to arrive, with many

Branches still looking bare and even

The regular crows roosting there 

Keeping away in the mid-day sun;

You keep checking every day to see

The green leaves peeping out 

And growing larger and greener 

With the sheen more brilliant by the hour

The boys flying kites sometimes find 

Their first few flights of the season

Crashing here irretrievably as lost time ---

The drama of death and resurrection 

Enacted every year before your eyes

Is strangely reassuring as your steps falter

And you foresee your own time stopping.

Star

The star is just a blink away

So is the bud from the flower

Between the flower and star

The distance is not too far

The rainbow stays longer

For the sake of the child

Who takes it to her heart

And keeps it there when it is not

The leaf turns sunlight green

Leaves the other colours 

To reach for the flower

Between the flower and star

The distance is not too far

Between me and my goddess

The distance is not any less.

Moonlight

The moonlight stops short

Of the balcony window,

At a particular time in the night

The tiled floor catches the moon's

Reflection and robs the eyes of sleep,

Other nights in another city come back

To remind you of when you lay awake

Listening to the sleepless dogs wagging

Their tongues and dreaming of tomorrow

You imagine walking the moon across

Familiar roads back to the river bridge

From where you see the temple towers

Raise folded hands towards the sky with clouds

Ready to bear any tidings to any place

If you are awake and looking at this moon

Pray that this serenity return to skies

Everywhere and children sleep peacefully

And go to school and come home safe.