Meenakshi Mohan (Women and Spring)

Meenakshi Mohan

My Granddaughter’s Fairy Garden

(for Veda)

 

It is spring again. The earth is like

a child that knows poems by heart.

Rainer Maria Rilke

 

At the nascent hours of the morning

when the sky was colored

with a blaze of apricot, peach and tangerine,

I heard a knock at my glass window

“cheer, cheer, cheer”

Indolently, I opened my eyes.

A red cardinal sat perched on my windowsill.

Outside, a bunch of pink cherry blossoms

rhythmically moved to reach my window.

 

Then, a knock at my door

Ammu, Happy Holi!

My four-year-old granddaughter entered my room.

Her voice was music to my ears.

 She jumped into my bed

and snuggled under my blanket.

 She told me about her dreams of the last night

of fairies from her fairy garden playing Holi with colors.

Ah! What an excellent way to start the morning!

 

Later in the afternoon,

she and I went to her Fairy Garden.

I exclaimed, Ah, no fairies here.

Shh! They are sleeping now

and came only at night to spread all the colors, she said.

But where are the colors? I asked.

Don’t you see? She said, whirling around on the flagstone patio,

pointing to the vibrant colored flowers –

rainbow-colored pancies, red-pink azaleas, yellow daffodils

creeping phlox covering the hedges in purple, blue, and pink,

many varieties of perennials spreading colors and sweet fragrances.

The fairies came and poured colors on the flowers, she said.

I smiled at her imaginary fancy tales.

 

We sat on the stone bench next to her fairy house,

where her fairies were taking their siesta.

The butterflies hovered around from flower to flower.

Naughty squirrels chased each other,

and grey-orangish robins splashed around in the birdbath

while my granddaughter weaved story after story.

But for me, her fairy garden, her chitter-chatter

were so salubrious and refreshing

that I wanted to live in the moment.

 

Images of my childhood flashed through my mind --

collecting yellow-white mogra flowers with my grandmother,

interlacing them to make garlands,

and sharing with her my imaginative stories,

while she listened intently.

How time flickered by so quickly,

leaving the footprints of sweet memories.

 

I wondered, many years from now,

would my four-year-old granddaughter remember

these innocent, beautiful moments

of a spring morning?

 

Bio: Dr. Meenakshi Mohan is an educator, art critic, children's writer, painter, and poet. She taught at universities in Chicago, Boston, and Towson, Maryland. She is a widely published writer in both academic and creative areas. 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 in 2021. and an Award of Excellence for Literature and Art from Setu Bilingual Journal, Published in Pittsburgh, USA, 2022. In addition, she received the Literoma Laureate Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024. Meenakshi lives in Maryland, USA.

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Setu, March 2024