Tag: trees

VERSE | THE CITY WITH NO SEASONS

On By Mahvash K. M.In poetry, Sadness, Spirituality, truth, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment 
Autumn’s here, the leaves they fall
As they do when summer drifts away
Slowly leaf by leaf, butterflies and bees 
All whisk away to other places where nippy winds 
Frost-nibbled grass and bare trees
Have had their day. They change places 
For a spell, the cities wear new faces 
Borrowed for a while
They smile, they sleep, they laugh, they dream
Hand in hand with the people passing by

Autumn’s here, the leaves should fall
As they do when summer slips away
But the seasons can’t find their way
Into this city, its leaves, butterflies and bees 
Have ceased to be. Permanently. Their carcasses one
With those of their humans that once 
Lived in this place.  They can’t change places 
Even for a while
They cannot sit and weep and weep and weep
Where mothers are slain and children are left to die.
Image: Helena

VERSE | SOULFUL INTERLUDES

On By Mahvash K. M.In poetry, serenity, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment 
I look at the leaves
Serrated edges, little flowers 
And I wonder 
About its identity 
The shrub growing under the amalthas* tree
You would know
You always knew 
As we walked in the street
Outside the house 
You could name every flower
And every tree
Every creeper
Even the sickness 
That gripped some of the leaves 

You looked at these 
Concerned, everything else forgotten
The fact that your own body 
Was racked with disease 
That ever-present pall softened 
By the enormity of your being
Your own pain erased 
And at that time, in that moment 
I too forgot
The wheelchair that you were in
That you were ill; that we were grief stricken 
I dived right in, feeling, seeing
You weaving magic around everyday things 
Flowers and trees grew chimerical wings

The swaying kachnar* 
The beskirted Ashokas*
Bobbing profusions 
Of jasmine and phlox 
Fragrant bunches
Of nargis* and freesias
You pointed them out with happy ease
And worried when any of these 
Were less than their perfect selves
And I too smiled and looked
In wonder
At how joyfully you revelled in it all 
Holding infinity in your lit up face
Offering up so much love and grace

And for those moments 
I too forgot 
The pain and the grief 
It was you and me 
Sadness free
While you took me on ethereal trips
Where nature in all her fullness
Unfurled - beautiful, calming, brave
We were carried away on a gentle wave
The pitted leaves 
Still vital and green
Were the only things we needed to save
* Kachnar: Orchid tree or mountain ebony

* Ashoka: Saraca asoka

* Nargis: Daffodil

* Amalthas: Indian laburnum

KIDSBOOKS| THE LITTLE MOTH ORCHID

On By Mahvash K. M.In bookworm, kidlit, Kidsbooks, poetry, writingLeave a comment 
There was once an orchid 
With beautiful white flowers
She loved lots of sunshine 
And gentle rain showers 

Her petals looked like little moths
Fluttering in the breeze
She lived between two branches 
Of the great banyan tree
 
The bigger plants were kind to her
And let her play with them
She’d sway her snowy flowers about 
And shake her leafy stem

One day it rained so very hard 
Moth orchid was quite drenched 
Her head of flowers hung down low 
Touching the wooden bench 

The plants around her tried to help 
But could not pick her up 
She drooped towards the bench some more 
And there her stem got stuck 

When the rain finally stopped
The gardener shuffled out 
He saw poor Mothy on the bench 
And took her in the house 

He put her in some coconut husk 
And kept her indoors for a day  
Then put her back on the banyan tree 
Where she still lives, grows and plays.

VERSE| IN NATURE’S EMBRACE

On By Mahvash K. M.In poetry, serenity, verse, writingLeave a comment 
The green of the earth 
And the blue of the sky
The cool, mellow breeze 
That caressingly passes by

The trilling of the birds
The humming of the bees
The rustling of the leaves 
In their verdant canopies

The well-loved paths 
Fringed with emerald grass
The spring-born butterflies 
Delicately flitting past

That one beloved companion 
Who matches steps with mine
Our hearts and minds in harmony
In this precious time

This surely is my heaven 
My earthly paradise
Where nature gently embraces me 
And I kiss her with my eyes.