Leafless Tree by Hema Ravi
In the course of the morning walk
this tree each day
I do pass,
I do pass,
in its naked existence
flanking foliage
it exudes charm.
What tales it has to share
how many life-forms been comforted
in its cool bosom
promises and kisses
exchanged under its shade—
desire to discern
Against relentless rain, glittery nights
sizzling summers and murmuring winds
inflection of clouds day after day
it stands unperturbed, unfettered.
Not a rhymester I am, to lay expression in print
neither an artist nor a lens man
to bring out the sensitivity,
The charismatic tree rouses the prosaic me
Its stillness radiates calm
I continue to gaze….
Looking intently at tree stripped of leaves and fruit
waiting patiently for summer
a monk recognised
the trustworthy autonomy
of divine intervention
love for God, never after ‘ceased to burn’.
Will this leafless tree be the catalyst?
Author’s Bio: Hema Ravi, a post graduate, has been serving as a teacher. She is the co-author of Everyday Hindi. Her write-ups have won prizes in the Femina, Khaleej Times (Dubai) and International Indian. Her viewpoints have been published in The Hindu's Voice Your Views. A write-up has won a prize in the monthly contest of www.writersglobe.com (August 2010). Her verses have been published in many journals including Metverse Muse, Matruvani, Holistic Mediscan, Muse India, and others.
You wring out the sap of beautiful poetry here from an otherwise prosaic looking leafless tree. The structure, style, choice of words, all add a wonderful charm to the image and substance of the leafless tree. The philosophic heights to which the poem reaches in its last stanza speaks of the depth of the Poet's thoughts. The poem, according to me, symbolizes the poets empathetic urge to recognize the past, present and future worth of what's-now-outwardly-and-generally-considered-utterly worthless. My salutations to the poet.
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