Falling in love

If I had one more heart

I would readily give it to you

And to you, you and

perhaps to you too!

But you see, the one I had, is already taken

Yet everyday, I keep falling in love

unplanned and spontaneously

my senses so easily enraptured

I fall in love with your sunrise

I fall in love with my dusk

I fall in love with traditional cooking

When the heady aromas envelop

I romance aromatic baking

For it brings a smile on my kids’ faces

Makes my home smell heavenly

And store bought cookies replaces

I fall in love with the angelic tangle of arms and legs

now asleep without a care

Whose sibling rivalry and revelry fill my home and heart

As well as my life and soul

I fall in love with your words, your turn of phrase

What you say and what you leave unsaid

I fall in love with the verses that reach out to me,

The stories that only your mind can create

Your unique experience that you kindly share

I fall in love with the pictures of blooms and pets you send

I fall in love with the magic of movies

And their world of wondrous make- believe

I fall in love with many a books

Their life like characters and their authors

And the belief and conviction that they portray

I fall in love with the music I listen to,

The singer, the writer and the musician

I fall in love with the raindrops falling

The overcast skies and the crescent moon

I fall in love hopelessly and completely everyday

And as my whimsical heart waxes and wanes in love

The one who captured my heart many moons ago

Sits in a corner looking indulgently

At the shenanigans of my wayward heart

He draws me close and holds my hand and says

” Your heart is not my captive, let it love and love freely

As long as I have a place in your heart

Accommodate as many loves as you can”

Thus, in freeing my heart, he captures it again.

Story time (OctPoWriMo)

Day 26

Prompt: Speaking and listening

Form: Free verse

As winter chill creeps stealthily 
into pleasant autumn nights
it is time for cosy evenings
of hot cocoa and story times
children dressed in warm flannels clamour for an engaging tale
all eager-eyed and twitching ears
granny sits draped in a pashmina shawl
she loves retelling the forgotten fables
another hearer quietly patters in
ever ready and an avid listener
ears cocked, head tilted to one side
glasses on and a warm woollies on
seeing the quorum of future story tellers complete
with a satisfied gleam in her eyes
granny begins spinning a yarn
“Once upon a time in ancient India….”

https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2021/10/25/what-do-you-see-105-october-25-2021/

Night fears (a haibun)

(From Pexel)

My tired eyes refuse sleep with reluctance, like an alcoholic refuses that last drink. Fear keeps my eyelids pinned open. Somewhere, drifting between extreme sleepiness and the need to be awake, I doze off. Only to wake up with a jerk. Groggy and disoriented, I walk up to his room. His CGM* reads 53. In panic I search hurriedly for the glucometer and the testing kit, fear making me butter-fingered. The commotion makes him stir. He looks up, gives me a lopsided smile and goes back to sleep. With trembling hands I take another reading…it reads 78. I sink to the floor shaking with relief.
It is 3.00 am and sleep has bid me goodbye. I sit in the balcony waiting for dawn. Most nights are uneventful, some cause this drama. But fear has become a part of the night routine. The threat of hypoglycemia can do that.

Moon my namesake** smiles
as I give her company
I hide my heartache

Written for dVerse. Today’s host Frank says: Let’s feel the spooky sensation of this coming Halloween/Samhain! Let’s celebrate that emotion of dread. Let’s write our haibun that states or references fear.

*CGM: contant glucose monitor. Used to monitor glucose levels of diabetics, especially type 1. ( My fourteen year old son is Type 1 diabetic.)

**namesake: Punam in hindi language means the full moon.

Filling my cup (OctPoWriMo)

Day 25

Prompt: Cup

Form; Free verse

Every morning as sunshine pours into my home
the nearby mango tree waves cheerily
sitting in my chosen spot in the balcony
I pour fresh brewed tea in my favourite cup
feeling warmed inside and out
I feel the golden and amber seeping into my cracks.

The moonlight is a salve for my achy soul
bathing my being luxuriantly
the soothing scent of tuberose welcomes me
as I pour my heart on a pristine sheet
words flow seamlessly
my cup of contentment runneth over.

Things that weigh me down (OctPoWriMo)

Day 24

Prompt: Millstone

Form: Monorhyme

Expectations, others as well as mine
put a spanner in my flight
fears, rational or irrational
grip me and relentlessly bite
dichotomy between reality and perception
of all my efforts makes light
obsession with an orderly house
keeps me forever tense and uptight
guilt and remorse nibble at my soul
never letting it soar like a kite
failed relationships bother me
frustrated, I every now and then gripe
grief engulfs me all of a sudden
leaving me feeling heavy; chest tight
negativity all around swallows me
my heart withers caught in the blight
failure’s shadow looms large occasionally
making me with remembered ignominy writhe
lack of empathy and compassion everywhere
I keep wondering about this world’s plight
weighed down by all this, it is no wonder
I don’t see at the end of tunnel any light.

Lost and found

 by an exact spot in the sky,
I witness a shift of light,
breaking where no sun shines

Why am I traveling
where really there is no road
the forest road was shut many moons ago

in gangrene hues, over a pyramid
in the desert, life is distilled;
I fear water

It’s so easy to get lost and disappear,
into the  nothingness of despair
I feel relief at the abandonment

where the wind and dust travel easily along my skin,
leaving trails of of the journey thus far
I am ready for something called home.

Written for dVerse. Today’s host Laura says: Select ONE of the above ‘lost poems’ (or one of your own finding where something or someone is lost ) and re-write is as a ‘Found poem’. It does not have to be as rigid as an erasure poem for you can add in some of your own words or even reorder it.

I have used the following poem. The phrases/lines used by me are in bold.

(Lost By Way of Tchin-Tabarden by Susan Rich

Republic of Niger

Nomads are said to know their way by an exact spot in the sky,

the touch of sand to their fingers, granules on the tongue.

But sometimes a system breaks down. I witness a shift of light,

study the irregular shadings of dunes. Why am I traveling

this road to Zinder, where really there is no road? No service station

at this check point, just one commercant hawking Fanta

in gangrene hues. C’est formidable! he gestures — staring ahead

over a pyramid of foreign orange juice.

In the desert life is distilled to an angle of wind, camel droppings,

salted food. How long has this man been here, how long

can I stay contemplating a route home?

It’s so easy to get lost and disappear, die of thirst and longing

as the Sultan’s three wives did last year. Found in their Mercedes,

the chauffeur at the wheel, how did they fail to return home

to Ágadez, retrace a landscape they’d always believed?

No cross-streets, no broken yellow lines; I feel relief at the abandonment

of my own geography. I know there’s no surveyor but want to imagine

the aerial map that will send me above flame trees, snaking

through knots of basalt. I’ll mark the exact site for a lean-to

where the wind and dust travel easily along my skin,

and I’m no longer satiated by the scent of gasoline. I’ll arrive there

out of balance, untaught; ready for something called home.)

In rememberance (OctPoWriMo)

Day 23

Prompt: Honouring the loved ones

Form: Unbounded quatrain

The weeping rain cries in rememberance
so does the shrinking tide
I had promised to shed no tears
You will find me mostly dry eyed.

My heart is too full  to speak
I won’t deny, tears do prick my eyes sometimes
but moving on is the only way. I console
myself with the thoughts of all the good times.

Sadly time does not bring relief as promised
nor does it ease the throbbing pain
all it may do is dull the ache momentarily
the rules of living without you do constrain!

Memories remain etched so sharp
Through the swirling mists of time
However ephemeral, life does seem like a celebration,
every now and then, when I feel your hand in mine.

https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2021/10/18/what-do-you-see-104-october-18-2021/

After they left (OctPoWriMo & dVerse)

(From Pexel)

Day 22

Prompt: Thinking of bygone era

Form: Compound word verse

Tracing steps back into the past
Wandering through relics on path
afterlife

History holds many lessons
do we ever heed or reckon
aftermath

With curiosity regard
that knowledge. But also discard
afterbirth

Differences bridgeable miles
Similarities oft bring smiles
afterglow

Haunting images come alive
as I peep into past, in life’s
afternoon

Written for dVerse. Today’s host Grace says: write a compound word verse.

The Compound Word Verse is a poetry form invented by Margaret R. Smith that consists of five 3-line stanzas, for a total of 15 lines. The last line of each stanza ends in a compound word and these compound words share a common stem word which is taken from the title. (In the first example below the stem word is “moon” from the title “Moonlighting”; the compound words related to the title are moondust, moonbeams, moonsongs, etc.)

The Compound Word Verse (3 lines) has a set rhyme scheme and meter as follows:

Rhyme Scheme: a,a,b
Syllable/Meter: 8, 8, 3

Single-mindedness (OctPoWriMo)

(From Pexel)

Day 21

Prompt: Discipline

Form: Acrostic

Daring to dream of dedicating life to the craft
Is certainly not as easy as it seems
Setting goals for self and then walking on the
Chosen path; two banks of a river at times
Intent to bridge the gap always there
Perseverance is sometimes in short supply
Life’s plans and mine often don’t coincide
I am forever looking for a median track
Not meeting deadlines I do hate
Efforts continue to fall in line with the objectives.

Comments are smiles (OctPoWriMo)

(From Pexel)

Day 20

Prompt: What this community means to you.

Form: Blitz

A random like
A heartfelt comment
Comments I leave
Comments I get
Get me going
Get me pumped
Pumped to write
Pumped to dare
Dare to try
Dare to create
Create dreams
Create verses
Verses from heart
Verses to share
Share my life
Share with strangers
Strangers are kind
Strangers become friends
Friends who cheer
Friends like family
Family from afar
Family that supports
Support and encourage
Support and inspire
Inspire to write best
Inspire to be better
Better as a person
Better than blood ties
Ties that help bloom
Ties that motivate
Motivate to continue
Motivate to  just be
Be kind
Be grateful
Grateful for kinship
Grateful for love
Love begets love
Love is  trust
Trust each other
Trust is nurtured
Nurture relationships
Nurture talent
Talent must be applauded
Talent is a gift
Gift of humanity
Gift a smile
Smiles this community
Smile is worthwhile
Worthwhile
Community.

Today is a good day to thank each and everyone of you for visiting, liking, commenting and cheering me on. A writer is nothing without her/his readers. I wouldn’t have grown as a writer without your encouragement. 🙏🏼❤️

Mother (OctPoWriMo & dVerse)

Day 19

Prompt: Story telling

Form: Quadrille

Her petite frame
and steely resolve
nurtured and
protected him
loneliness not withstanding

Then he grew up

Waiting for him
she died alone;
the funeral pyre
lit by a stranger

He hugs the urn
containing her ashes
for immersion in the Ganges*

too late…

Written for dVerse. Today’s host Sarah says: So tonight let’s write some ash quadrilles – 44 words, including the word ash.

*Hindus believe that the soul of the deceased stays attached to its body even after its demise, and by cremating the body, it can be set free. 

To fully liberate the soul of its mortal attachments, the ashes and remaining bone fragments of the deceased are then dispersed in a river or ocean, usually at a historically holy place, like the banks of the River Ganges.