“through the act of living, the discovery of oneself is made concurrently with the discovery of the world around us. . ."

Thursday, June 25, 2015

The Housewarming


New house -
Sweep up the courtyard, scrub down the floor
Open the windows, let in the Sun.
Let in the cool breeze, let in the laughter
Let draperies sway on a dancing spree.


Light up the lamp, boil the milk
Let it spill, dousing the flame.
Scatter the blooms, the sweetest of scents
Serve up the food, pour down the wine.

Flowers in pots, dogs in cages,
God’s in heaven; all’s right with the world.

Now bring it in then, the red coloured tin!
For, they hide -
Behind the doors and nooks and corners
Below the shelves and show-off cases
Beneath the steps, above the screens –
Hiding in despair, huddling in horror
Trembling in wrath, fraught with fear
Making themselves unseen to us.

Now bring it on then, the red coloured tin
And let’s douse it on the ant and roach.
Let’s watch the spider stagger and die
Let’s behold the shriveling up ants.

Cockroaches run helter and skelter
Only to pause – and turn over-
All legs up and dancing in the air.

****** Balachandran. V. Trivandrum 19.07.2015

5 comments:


  1. Now bring it over again, the red coloured tin
    Camouflage the food with fatal poison
    Summoning the starving rodent with glee
    And watch it nibble its food and flee
    Running in despair, eager to escape
    But we don’t let it; we kill it in a snap

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  2. Straying into your blog after a long, long time. Now I know what I have been missing.... K T Rajagopalan

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  3. Lovely with right words especially the first three stanzas.

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  4. saying a sheepish Hi and a big congratulations on your new house and the lovely poem. News at my end is same apart from the fact that I have two dogs now. Max you know already, the second one is Arrow. They keep me busy, mad, and loved.
    hope you are doing well.

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