Am meisten gelesen ▸
Balachandran V
The vine danced in the wind.
Swinging gently, the young one thought
'This is life; I will soon be an adult
I will take in many lovers
I will have offsprings in thousands
This beautiful land and brook mine'.
Above, on the low-hanging branch
Sat a Bee-eater, sharpening his beak
His eyes had a kindness one could not fathom
As he gazed on the young dragonfly.
A deep sigh escapes my lips, as in the morning
I empty a full bladder, leaning to the coconut palm.
Nothing more pleasurable than to empty oneself
Of urine and from one’s mind, yesterday’s thoughts.
I blush; a Black Drongo on the wires turns
Its head to look at me; a Magpie Robin trills a song.
The Kingfisher, hops down on a branch
Above my head and shakes his, as if in disapproval.
High above, against the darkening sky
The dragonflies swarm and circle
Bracing for the long journey ahead.
When do I, begin mine?
Like being hit by a speeding truck
And then, like a lover’s gentle caress
The winds of Nagercoil blow
From the east, the west and all around.
Among the grass, the dragonflies veer-
Swing up and away and then twist
To drop: pummelled by the winds, they
Grapple with the twigs as if on a joyride.
The ponds ripple; little waves rise
Like young girls shivering at their lovers’ kiss.
The crows and doves like drunkards
Stagger in the air; the tall palms sway
Their leaves chatter, huddled close like kids
The green paddy, as far as the eye can see-
Undulating waves of a vast sea.
Then – the winds would drop
News: a signature of flight
stays imprinted on blue-black strata
in Earth’s uncertain crust.
(The body vanished long ago.)
The British, desperate like
everyone for fuel, mining in
the vicinity of Hell, uncovered
this icon of wing, which dates
from when flight went
unnamed in air. We glance
at accounts concerning
“the fossilized wing of
Earth’s first flying thing.”
Shall we congratulate
this synecdoche of dragonfly
set deep in Derbyshire coal?
Is it a dragonfly or a maple leaf
That settles softly down upon the water ?