Jaya’s Night Garden – Nature poem
As evening falls
Moonbeams get entangled
In the glossy leaves
Of coconut trees.
The glow of temple flowers
Loom from the gloom around us
And the pearly petals and starry shapes
Of the parijat twinkle in the shadows.
Between the fruiting sapota trees
Bats flit by,
Silhouettes against the pewter sky.
Nature poem
The air is heavy
With the scents of dusk:
Jasmin, honeysuckle and sampangi,
The deeper notes of davanam and sweet marjoram
And the down to earth smell of dampened dust.
Somewhere a nightjar taps away,
Cicadas are tuning up
And in the water lily pond
A lonely frog is croaking.
I have been in many places
On magical moonlit nights
But none can compare for me
With the serenity
Of those twilight nights
Under moonlit coconut trees
In my mother’s garden.
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