 |
| Avantika Vijay Singh |
Pride
of India/ Jarul/ Queen’s Crape Myrtle
A palette of
purple
Displays the
Queen’s Crape Myrtle
Blooming like the
silver mist
Amidst April’s
hues from light to deep amethyst.
With petals that
typically crinkle.
Lilac hues adorn
Hushed whispers on
the morn’…
A tea brewed from
its leaves…
Holds the cure for
diabetes.
Such power to it
is born.
Its heart holds a
calyx
of a star with
points six
A Shatkona…
That in Hinduism
has grown
To symbolise
balance in its mix.
Between Shiv and
Shakti…
The unity of
opposing energy.
Between heaven and
earth…
A balance convert
The symbol of
balance and harmony…
Is it any wonder
then
That gazing upon
the Jarul brings content.
Aligning the mind,
body and soul,
In a complete
whole…
At peace immense.
***
Jacaranda
Lavender trumpets,
Trumpeting spring,
Springing through
early summer…
Jacaranda.
Amethyst arbour
Lushly loom
Storming sapphire
skies
Amaranthine…
Eternal… wisdom
brought from the moon by a priestess
On the Jacaranda
she lands with the Mitu bird
According to
Amazonian legend,
Shares her
knowledge with the people and then returns
From the Jacaranda
The staircase to
the moon…
Violet in the
vault of heaven
Trumpeting His
glory.
A sigh from the
soul
Peace.
Tranquillity.
A native of South
America,
but now a global
traveller.
Travelling
continents,
creating a
tropical storm.
A tropical storm
that calms…
Calming is the
effect it generates
Generating a
cosmic symphony
Breezing through
my consciousness.
***
Gulmohar
Flames of fire
Dressed in a flower’s attire
Rise higher
With summer’s ire.
Travelling from
Madagascar
It arrived into an
Indian summer…
A vibrant stunner,
Is summer’s
drummer.
Flamboyant in
their ferruginous
With gold-tipped
filaments numerous
Waging wars
illuminous
On the morning
mutinous.
Crimson
tongued-petals converse
With the universe
In heroic verse
And I in their
glory immerse.
A crimson lake
increases
Beneath the trees
With the morning
breeze
As the flowers
fall with ease…
My feet carry me
through this tapestry
That remind me of
a soldier’s gallantry…
On the battlefield
for his country
And the subsequent
honour in a grand pageantry.
***
Rangoon
Creeper/ Madhumalti
Madhumalti…
A dressy flower
Changing colour…
white to pink to
red.
Shy and demure…
flowering in
bunches.
Gazing downwards
On the vine she
grows.
Madhumalti…
Reminds me of the
ashta nayika –
the eight types of
heroines
in ancient Indian
literature.
Bedecked in
vibrant hues
she is Utkanthita nayika …
the one
who awaits her beloved
in shringhar
rasa…
Her
long tresses perfumed
with
flowers beaded amongst them
and
jewellery adorning her…
Her
face aglow with expectation.
Like
Radha waiting for Krishna…
Incidentally,
ancient tales
Compare
the pink flowers to Radha
And
the white ones to Krishna.
And
together they dance the raas leela…
celebrating the
eternal bond
of love
in the sea of
devotion.
***
Gulmohar
the dancer
Tak dhina dhin
dhin
dhin dhin tak
The sound of the
mridangam
resonates in my
ears as I see
in full bloom…
the Gulmohar…
The flowers
sway gently in the
wind
decked in
brilliant crimson and gold
like a
Bharatnatyam dancer
tak dhin dhin
dhin dhin dhina
tak…
The five-petalled
gulmohar
with its four
crimson petals
and the fifth one
cream
with splashes of
red
akin to the
pleated fan of
a bharatnatyam
dancer’s saree…
The red magnifies…
with red petaloid
sepals
below the red
petals
like the
underskirts…
While their
undersurface
remains green.
Their sinuous scarlet
stamens
like maidens in multiple
mudras.
I am enchanted
with their beauty
and grace
and their innate
rhythm
as they dance upon
the breeze…
And my heart
dances with them.
***
Bio: Avantika
Vijay Singh is a writer, editor, poet, researcher, and photographer. She is the author of two solo poetry books i.e., Flowing… in
the river of life and Dancing Motes of Starlight (her
debut ebook). She is the winner of the Nissim International Award Runner Up
2023 and has been published in national and international journals. She also
writes the blog “Ordinary People, Extraordinary
Lives” in the Times of India.
Beautifully written with lot of emotion. Deep philosophical thought portrayed in a simple manner.
ReplyDeleteFabulous, i loved and liked Gulmohar the most ЁЯОЙ - Anju
ReplyDeleteBeautiful imagery of the nayika waiting for her lover.
ReplyDeleteAll the poems are radiating positivity and pulsating with vibrant hues