All Season

 

A sunset may look like a sunrise,

a flat bread may look like a cake,

not all things appear as themselves -

to assume that is a mistake.

Mild winters often fool the public

into thinking it's already spring.

Remember that some leaves will wither

as the rest of the tree gets blooming.

A backyard can contain deep snowdrifts

as well as robins overhead -

call it a miracle or mundane,

birds flying in flocks of hundreds.

What's seen though is often not equal

to what you might manage to get.

Some stranger slams in from outside

and skews the whole game and the set.

Compassion's never a guarantee

that the very same will be lobbed back -

you can send all the cakes and roses

but karma's a tough puzzle to crack.

No particular time for despair -

it's an all-year, all-season thing.

Just like love, hope and happiness.

None of them is confined to spring. 

The video above was sent by my school buddy Riki Roy who lives in Alberta, Canada, thank you Riki!  

But why on earth should images of snow and ice and -30 deg C temperatures result in a poem on spring? Because it is Vasant Panchami here in India, which is a kind of advent festival observed for the start of spring.  Vasant is the word for spring in several Indian languages, it is called Rituraj Vasant around these parts - the King of Seasons, the season of renewal and rejuvenation, of planting and growth. Cusp season, love season too, as it is the wedding season in India. 

Just as a matter of info, the minimum temperature in Srinagar today, the  northernmost provincial capital  in India, is 1 deg C. And where I am much further south east, the min temps are in the 20s. 

While we prepare for spring in India, my friends and family south of the equator are readying for winter. Indo-Fijians mark Vasant Panchami the same as Indians, though their seasons are completely flipped over there, they are observing a 'spring' festival during their own autumn, isn't that piquant? Yet they have completely adapted to the local seasonal rhythms for all practical purposes, they have to. The contrasts across the planet - extreme, awe-inspiring and aren't they utterly fascinating!

Wishing you a fascinating time full of inspiring contrasts. Happy February!

Constituent Parts

 

Within me you'll find my parents

and in me you'll find my sons,

you'll find them all everywhere in me

but they're not the only ones.

There are folks too that you'd never know -

friends, and strangers I've met just once.

For we aren't only our forefathers.

And we're not just our descendants.

The houses that I've ever lived in

continue to live in me.

The beaches I've picked seashells from

shop fronts I've looked at longingly.

The woods I've walked, the glory of stars,

the shadow of bird and tree.

For we're not just folks that are in us,

we are all that we hear and see.

The sum of my whole's never equalled

the sum of my constituent parts.

Each word I wrote and then scratched out,

every stumble and all false starts.

The half done poems that missed a beat,

the stories that made me fall apart.

For we come to be all that we've loved,

everything that's nailed to our hearts. 

 

Saffron, white and green are the colours of the Indian flag. Here today because 26th January is celebrated as Republic Day in India, to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution in 1950 and so completing the transition to a sovereign republic nation, where everyone has an equal chance at happiness and freedom. One of the many important things drilled into me by family elders, teachers and even random strangers sometimes. Nailed to the heart in short.

Happy Republic Day to all Indian citizens. May democratic values prevail across the world and in India always. 

Resolution

 

I'm resolute that I'll let joy arrive

at its own pace, I'll not ask it to rush,

nor will I turn away from the less joyous.

Everything comes at its appointed time.

I'll wait and learn. To keep the flame alive

whatever is served. Not let months crush

the night flowers slow blooming in darkness,

the rivermagic supreme and sublime.

And I'll learn to listen more acutely,

to love deeper, in more effacing ways.

Make sure my love is felt, not seen nor heard -

I'll erase the extras most resolutely

till less than joyous also feels like grace,

beyond the need to spell it out in words.  

Well, here we are  - the first post of the year. Hope you've had a brilliant time these past holidays and that those good things are going to repeat throughout the year. Wishing you lots of happies and merries in 2025. 

I don't really make resolutions, New Year or otherwise, the above is pure poetic licence overload.  Mainly because I suck at keeping them. However, the general idea is to do a bit better, to learn something new and go someplace new. To work on the patience quotient, which, after decades, is still not at an acceptable level. And the less said the better on the detachment/decluttering index, yikes. Work in progress, work in progress. Sigh. 

Do you make New Year resolutions? Tell me the secret to not fail at them.