MEENAKSHI MOHAN, USA

Meenakshi Mohan

Dr. Meenakshi Mohan, an educator, art critic, a children’s writer, painter, and poet, is a widely published author in academic and creative areas. She taught at universities in Chicago, Boston, and Towson, Maryland. She is on the Editorial Team for Inquiry in Education, a journal published by National Louis University, Chicago, Illinois. Meenakshi received the International Panoramic Award for Writing and an Award of Excellence in Literature from Setu Bilingual Journal, Published in Pittsburgh, USA.

GILHARI

I watched the sinking Sun from my deck,

bereft of its glory, veiled behind the smokey clouds.

Below on the ground, a fallen leaf fluttered,

taking its last breath before dissolving into emptiness.

Desolate, gloomy, the thought of pandemic, war, sickness, and death

filled me with elegiac laments about the worthlessness of life.

Then something caught my attention –

A fuzzy brown gilhari with a long furry tail jumped up on the deck,

and stood below my chair, looking at me with his beady, black eyes.

Was he questioning my gloom? Greeting me? Fascinated, I watched him.

Soon he disappeared and appeared again,

jubilantly running up and down the scaly bark of the oak tree.

Captivated, I watched his agile, playful, bouncy movements --

munching on the acorns, dancing under the sprinkles of the fountains,

chasing after the chipmunks and hiding under the bushes.

Enthralled by his playful frolicking, I forgot my solicitude and gloom.

Up above, the Cimmerian clouds had dispersed --

the orangish coral with cerulean hues adorned the Western Hemisphere.

A soft cold breeze tussled my hair. The sprawling branches of the Oak

danced with a rhythmic tempo, and the birds in a triangle were homebound.

The Sun, wrapped in tangerine glory, was leaving to come back.

My Gilhari, back on the deck, stood on his two legs with joined hands,

looking up at the heavenly sphere – was it a Naman to the Lord?

Gratified, I shut my eyes in reverence. Here are Thou!

The divine creature, my Gilhari had disappeared! But I was at peace!

Notes: 

Gilhari – Hindi for squirrel

Naman – Sanskrit for Salutations to the Lord

Oak Tree – Symbolic of endurance and strength

Here are Thou – Lines from Rabindranath Tagore’s Journey Home, Gitanjali

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Solitude of Soul 2023 :: Setu, March 2023