Above, the sky was a bright blue
Clouds, white, swum lazily
Sun shone bright
Breeze blew gentle.
Atop the tree, on the highest branch
A new leaf, slender and green
Soaked in the sun and danced in the air.
Other leaves wished how they could be
At the top, at the very top.
Humming happily to itself, the leaf,
Humming happily to itself
Nothing above me
But the empty, vast sky!
Trembling in glee, the flower buds
Blushed,
Dreaming of the bees
And the fruits they will bear.
The branches huddled,
Gravely discussing the season
The weather, how stronger and longer
They should grow;
They had their targets to meet.
The bark of the trunk, bit worried
Wondered how to tackle
The rise in termites
The whims of the woodpeckers
And the nuisance of squirrels
Nibbling the bark just for fun.
Beneath the soil
Matters had taken a worse turn
The roots were in confusion
And fear
Of the fickle rains
And the hard rocks deeper.
Birds flew, wind blew
Sun set and the moon rose.
In the dark
As the owl hooted
As bats erupted in and out
The tree sighed
For it knew
It was its last night.
******** Balachandran V,
Beautiful....the emotions of each parts of the tree captured so well.
ReplyDeleteI think you were a tree in your previous birth :-)
@Insig: :D
ReplyDeleteI had many births - a sweeper in one, a dog in another, a tree in yet another - the best I remember was when I was a drop of dew...
That was beautiful.
ReplyDeleteNeed I say more?
nice photo
ReplyDeletebeautiful poem to go with it
What an fascinating look at nature and how each unit felt about everything as a whole... Beautifully done..
ReplyDeleteHello Pilgrim: I have visited before but cherish this post much. Good one!
ReplyDeleteWhen you have a moment please come see me at NRIGirl
~ NRIGirl
thought provoking.
ReplyDeletenonhumans too feel, think, i guess.
very interesting way of seeing life - you are a true environmentalist
I need to brush up my vocabulary to comment in one word on this beautiful thought Balan.
ReplyDelete@Doc: Thanks,Doc! 'Beautiful' is a word, if you'd recollect, that we use in life,more than'ugly'!
ReplyDelete@sm: photo is courtesy the net; I usually remember to acknowledge, but this time I forgot and try as I might, could not trace it! :( Thanks for visiting!
@Sandy: Thanks! Soon I will have to bring out a collection of poems exclusively on my mango tree! :)
@NRIgirl: Thanks, and I will surely visit you soon.
@KPJ: The whole poem is a metaphor for our life...
@Anil: Coming from you, that's a real compliment!
Lovely. It was as if the tree, each part of it, was speaking for itself. Wonder if the tree really knows when its end is near! And man?
ReplyDeleteBy any chance is the tree in reference one which got slaughtered due to urbanization? Well.. sounded so
ReplyDeleteJust like Vayalar's 'Vriksham'
Fine poem.
ReplyDeletethat poem was like this hot cup of tea on a cold winter morning!
ReplyDelete