A Purple Stem (Nature Poem)

A purple stem

To
Many it’s just a cut flower
Just a stem of gladiolus
But, for me
It has been a friend
Of decades
Once our garden
Had a patch, nay
A crop of 30 – 40
Gladioli!
Mostly they were 
Of purple hue, with silky
Texture
They’d last there almost two months 
In the front yard
Next to the driveway
Dancing in the wind
Glistening with the pearly
Raindrops
Year after year
They blossomed without fail
In this freezing zone 5 -
Till a jealous friend
Cast her glance
With a sly comment:
“How come you get
such lovely long floral stems?
I never had luck with ‘em”
That’s it - killed them all.
Or it could be due my own neglect
They perpetually need fertile soil with good
Drainage. They don’t like getting
Their feet wet or cold during the heavy
Autumn downpours and severe
Snow storms.

But
Let’s leave it all aside for now.
Let me enjoy
This single stem from
This season, happily 
Ensconced in a porcelain vase
Last year we lost quite
A few to a pesky virus or thrips; the buds
Didn’t even open – a blackened bud or
A premature disfigured clump of dry petals
Is all we got
But we’re lucky this year
Got five or six stately lanterns
Of colorful gladioli 
Ranging from purple to pink
One even with crinkled petals
And a dose of central dark patch
Now I am transported to the
Carefree days of my college days
Oh, those freshman English lectures
From an elderly scholar with 
Utter devotion to the subject and
Deep love to the young students
He
Told us the meaning of “unheard melodies”
And what is beauty:
Still to this day
It rings in my mind the line,
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever”
This little six-inch stem of
Gladiolus proudly proclaims (confirms)
It. 

Copyright 2026 by the author

Red Hat Visitor (A Nature Poem)

Red Hat Visitor

Our relation goes back

To several years back

He first visited us

During the snowy January

He was on an urgent mission

They had to find a house

Insulated from the cold

Snow and predators

An abandoned maple tree

Was their lucky find!

Besides soft dry wood

It provided nourishment for their young

My association goes back

To many years

I saw them in our village

Right across our class room

In the bushes of acacia

In the village farmers market

I looked at their vivid colors

Their soft feathery coats

In the hands of hunters

We would call ‘em

Carpenter Bird – vadrangi pitta (వడ్రంగి పిట్ట)

Or vadla pitta (వడ్ల పిట్ట) (as in the movie, Ankur)

I feel as though

This home, here, in the suburbs

Is like the Ashram of Kanva rishi

Of the fabled Sankuntalam

A most sensitive creative play of

The Great Kalidasa

What do I lack here?

Except a lion and a peacock

I have everything here

In my modest woods around the house

I have many avian, reptiles, two hoofed

Seen the bluebird, cardinal, woodpeckers

Chickadees, squirrels, chipmunks, 

An occasional garter snake

But the pileated woodpecker

And a humming bird

Captivated our attention

Once a baby deer rested 

Near the wall, enjoying the cool shade of big maple

Then, during a heavy downpour

A shivering raccoon needed

A dry sheltering place

Under the front porch

We’ve grown accustomed 

To all these gentle creatures

Though we never feed them

Nothing, no special food

Never petted them

They all enter the front porch

And

The deck in the back

And several avian friends

Made nests in the evergreen trees

Beneath the deck

We watched newly hatched

Chickadees, starlings, doves, squirrels

Life just flourishes all around

Then, there is the ever flowing

Boisterous cataract, barely visible

From our bedroom window

A cool shade, protected tall trees

Spacious woods, and water all around the year

What more do they need?

Plenty of hawthorn berries, maple seeds

And nutritious wild walnuts

Pine seeds and flowers

Need you ask for anything more?

All this I (we) get to see,

Share, and enjoy

From our lovely home

I need no nature retreats

No hiking trips to the Adirondacks

It is as though we are blessed

A pleasant early morning 

Bird call, a late evening chirping

A midsummer’s cacophony of

Crickets in the afternoon

They remind me

“Enjoy, meditate on all this

Abundance of life”

I cannot imagine a more

Harmonious coexistence of living beings Copyright 2021 by the author

Mini Poems (మినీ కవితలు)

శిశరం '18

నాల్గు సిందూర కాయ 

తొడిమలు  

ఉడుత పిల్లలు

ఆడుకొన్నాయి తొక్కుడు బిళ్ల ! 

----

ప్రాధమిక పాఠశాల 

బడి ముందర

 రెండు బుల్లి సైకిళ్లు                           

 ఓ చిన్ని స్కూటరు -                            

 ఓ ఆడ, రెండు మొగ                           

లేక రెండు ఆడ, ఒక మొగ

  ----

గోరింక గూడు 

రాలిపోయె - దారిలో  

పిల్లలు ఎగిరి పోయె 

ఇక వచ్చేది చలి కాలము

---  

కరోనా కళ  '20

ఇరవై ఉయ్యాలలు

పంచ రంగుల జారుడు బల్లలు మూడు  

ఒక్క పిల్ల లేదు, 

ఒక్క కేరింత వినిపించదు 

Autumn ‘18

Four acorn cupules 

Some squirrels

‘ve played hopscotch here!

----

The robin’s nest

Scattered across the path

The chicks flown away

Now, comes the hard winter

---

Elementary School

At the entrance

Two small bicycles

And a tiny push scooter –

One girl’s and two boys’

Or, maybe two girls’ and one boy’s

---

Corona’s Glitz (’20)

Twenty Swings

And three colorful slides

Not a single child

Can’t hear one scream