Hosta plantaginea
I first noticed you
On the Columbia campus
Perhaps during the Orientation
Ceremony
The landscape workers
Meticulously pruning, spreading
The aromatic mulch mixed with
Compost
Your white jasmine-like slender
Flowers immediately pulled me
Born in a tropical village with
Luscious green and abundant flowers
Spread throughout the year
I’m drawn to flavors and flowers
But the sweet scent, varied pleasing
Aromas of flowers always
Captivates me; it takes me decades
Back into childhood and
Energetic youthful wanderings
Then
I’d lie idly happily
In my mother’s lap
With a gardenia peeping from
Her oily hair
Playing with my sisters
And their loquacious friends -
Always smiling and giggling
With innocent secretive
Discussions
Scores and scores of
Functions, marriage ceremonies,
Interesting discourses, plays,
Dance and music programs
They all had fragrances
Roses, jasmines, Michael champaka –
You name it from Tuberose to the most
Exotic type of Oleander
The ladies in south India
Loved the flowers
They pampered them
Every house had it then
They have it even now
You’d see in the front yard
Near the gate
And
On the terrace
Beckoning the night stars
And
Offering rendezvous for the young lovers
Copyright 2020 by the author
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