Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 3, Number 2. November 2020. ISSN: 2581-7094
Nasturtiums
In my
Himalayan home, the nasturtiums
Greened and
yellowed the landscape
Creeping
luxuriously out of the flower beds
Like a
bride’s long sweeping wedding train.
To tell
which flowers are my favorite,
Is not easy.
So many vie
for the spotlight in my heart.
A kind of
sacredness surrounds nasturtiums,
They are a
mountain flower, beloved by the mountains.
The
rhododendrons share my love equally
When in
season, adding their red,
A bride’s
sindhoor,
To the color
palette of green and yellow
Against the
Himalayan blue sky,
Making the home
a temple.
The
sometimes barren mountain raining down
Flowers as
gifts to the earth.
Here, on a
different continent
When the
season for nasturtiums passes,
We will
gather the seeds to plant next year
For more of
Nature’s beauty to bloom
Next summer,
once more,
Bringing the Himalayas home to me.
Before the storm the flowers bloomed
Before the
storm the flowers bloomed.
After, it
took them one by one
I already
knew they would be doomed
For lack of
warmth from the friendly sun.
We labored
long and hard while planting
Hopes and
dreams in the flower beds
We daily
watered them with much love and chanting
Knowing they
would one day be dead.
All things
must die, flowers too.
Just
grateful for the time they grew
Will plant
again with hope next summer
Blooming for
bees and butterflies to hover.
They used to
cheer the passersby
On their
leisurely morning walks
Now they
pass them with a sigh
What would
the flowers say if they could talk?
Simply
repeat the old adage, all things must die
We smile as
we bloom, we wait for a blue sky.