Author: anilg

Tulsi 8

The stream is a bit muddy

The tillers have ploughed the land

You, growing on the road side

Do not care

Because my tears

Irrigate your roots

Every day

When I come to ask you

Why did you leave me

Like this,

A stone unbroken

Comes in the way, till

The tiller picks it up

And piles on a bund

I wish I was pulverized

Thoroughly

And so powdered

Would have become a speck of light soil

Flying with the breeze

Covering your leaves

Protecting them from unwanted

Tulsi 7

Will the soil beneath your roots

Have space for breathing

undisturbed

Are u asleep

Should I hold my breath

Lest you wake up

And ask

Why did I keep standing

Whole night

But then u know

It is not the last time

Nor the first

When I stay awake

Hoping that you will remember

I have prayed to see you growing

And cover you with my arms

When it is cold

And your leaves may get wrinkled

tulsi 6

yearning for your aroma

fragrance  of  your flowers

dark purple leaves

and greenish shades of dryness

I am not sure

If the stillness inside my spirit

Will hold

When I touch your feet

And embrace them to my heart fill

You will shirk them away,

Ask me to stand up

But by then your blessings will come true

Frozen feet will be cut there

And remain as a pot

In which you will grow

For ever in the eyes of devotees

But no one will know

The claims of my conscience

Deep, distilled like the vapours of

An ethereal effervescence

May   17, 2006

Tulsi 5

The barren hill tops

lush green valley

do u know

how did creepers did the tally

of the fallen stars and

the blinking eyes

that were all set at your feet

full of devotion and deep sighs

how else can one worship

and also pray

that wishes remain incomplete

so that no body can say

he got more than what he gave

now, that the time has taken

the toll, save

u can not even grant

a boon, I wish

it will be now be forsaken

Tulsi -4

When in the sacred grove

Of the village

I saw you growing

Uncared and untended

Wild and worriless

I discovered right then

The secret of your pervasivenss

You can

If you wish

Cleanse the air that

I breathe

And soften the soil on which I walk

But you can

If you wish,

only if you wish

Tulsi -3

15. 5. 06

Why shall the broken pots

With your saplings,

still green

Be of concern to

Me,

I donot worship the pot

Or the sapling

I am devoted to your aroma

That you share so unhesitatingly

With the world

To sublimate their

Desires

And demands

Into a prayer

That I/they  recite

Every morning

And also every night

Before I sleep

If I sleep

Tulsi – 2

Standing like a guard

At the gate of my emotions

Guiding me to do this and not that

Staring at me

In anger at times

But frustrated

With my inability to rhyme

Or resonate

With your changing moods

or colours

With every season

Will you abandon me

Or embrace

Does not matter so much

So long as I remain the reason

Of the pains that shriveled leaves

Display

In the courtyard of quivering sounds

Of  devotees at your bank

Of river of  irreverent smiles

when the yearnings give way

life demands a price

for absorbing the sounds of

falling leaves

and walking on a green lawn togther

singing and swinging,

but then life also demands

what only time will tell

whether one could offer

the fairness

in finding the answers

to difficult questions

and a trust

that one will face them

even when asked to question

the very basic assumption

seasaw will continue to swing,

best is to remove the fulcrum

who knows what time forebodes,

life must not ever shun

the vibes of valour will not sanction,

what desires for being fair and just

will commission

took one round
and tried to proceed
but your branches
swayed as these werre
by light breeze
got hold of
my
scarf
asking me as if
to pause and turn
how could have i returned
the bag of memories
was
burried
in the pot
in which  you grow
O tulsi