Earth Melodies: Alka Balain

Alka Balain

The Visitor

at Singapore Botanic Gardens

 

In Dell’s 4 pm hour near Swan Lake,

Phthalo green watercolours swim,

slender-necked lotuses sleep.

In the dense foliage nearby,

the call of a pink-neck pigeon

occasionally stirs leaves.

Moist hanging ferns shelter

moss rockeries; waning

daylight wanders through

the wandering woods.

I climb the stairs to come

across a plant with one leaf.

The info board nearby reads —

transplanted successfully in

the alien land after several trials.

 

Begin with Happiness

 

A beautiful day. 

Bengaluru skies.

Champaka clouds

on Nandi Hills.

Breeze fans

coconut fronds.

Shisham leaves

summer in the sun.

A red darter flits

over a marigold.

I haven’t seen

one before.

A nuthatch chirps —

what sweetness,

O bird, you hold! 

A bagula rests

on the grass, at ease

with the shadow

that falls.

I want to be this day.

 

Mormon

 

I spot a bright blue-black butterfly 

near Auroville's Purity Guest House.

She sprints ahead on her Asian wings,

then pauses on the red grained soil. 

I pass by her to take the Anasuya grove.

Swiftly, she joins before disappearing 

around the winding path. 

Her existence adds joy to my heart.

And I found my poem on her wings.

 

 

Bio: A postgraduate in management, Alka Balain is an educator turned poet and artist. She is the club chair of the Writing Enthusiasts' Club, Indian Women's Association, Singapore and Chapter Head-Singapore, Asia Literary Society, India. Alka is a member of the Asian Literary Society (ALS), India and the Asia Pacific Writers & Translators Group (APWT), Australia. Alka's poems have been shortlisted for the Glass House Poetry Award 2024, ALS Wordsmith Award 2024/2020, Poetry Festival Singapore-Catharsis 2021/2023, and Wordweavers Contest 2022. She is the author of ParijatPetals: of longing and seeking.

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Setu, October 2024