A February Paean
Emerald jubilee
Courtyard, dimly lit.
Spots seeking light outnumber
Exhausted streetlamps.
Delhi winter chill:
Miasma descends at dusk,
Himalayan winds.
Comfy in covers,
Hazy faces mill about
Minding own business.
Heedless of the crowd,
Arm in arm stand you and I
Wrapped in a bubble.
Straining eager ears,
Moon peeks from behind the clouds
Ever so nosy.
Gloomy-visaged
Anxious flowers lie awake —
Catastrophizing.
Hope’s flickering flame
Dreads extinguishment before
It illuminates.
As southerly gales
Bemoan shedding of dry leaves —
The tree left bereft.
Lovelorn songbird, hushed,
Awaits in her verdant nook —
Anticipation!
Your sudden embrace —
Sweet as an evening zephyr
On a sultry day —
And riding a sigh,
A few words escape your lips
And my world is made.
On this pale blue dot,
Circumsolar translation —
Now our odyssey.
Februaries bring
Reminiscence of one when
Our lives intertwined.
Two decades of bliss
Feeling, living the magic
In those precious words.
Happy Anniversary, Dear Heart! 🌹
Note 1: Imagery presented in paragraphs on anticipation was inspired by a song penned by one of the greatest poets of undivided Bengal, Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976), national poet of Bangladesh, and beloved of Bangla-speaking people everywhere.
Note 2: Each stanza is formatted in three lines with 5, 7, and 5 syllables in the style of Haiku, a non-rhyming poetic style that emerged in the 17ᵗʰ century in Japanese literature.
Note 3: Thanks, Mama Ki, for the prompt.
