Into the gentle silence of rumination,

Leaves shed randomly in little rustle,

Leaving memories helter-skelter.

But one floated up against free fall

To tweak my lost and forsaken dreams-

One memory of a golden childhood

Where flying horses galloped by,

Carpets floated through the air,

Dragons swooped across the sky

And djinns  granted opulent wishes.

It was a dream far from the fantasies,

Treading the realm of science,

Weighing quantities with qualities;

It was a dream to be like Madame Curie,

To trudge among the phials and chemicals,

Discovering elements to benefit mankind.

I grabbed this flustered dream from floating

And, within my poetic pages, pressed it to enshrine.

Oh, the winter enters so quickly

That one forfeits the sight of color,

Leached away from life and limb

In its gelid cold and frigid hold.

Varied grays enshrouded the sky

With clouds pregnant with dense vapor

Above the gloomy landscape

Of gray-barked,  skeletal trunks

Of leaflets trees with spindly arms.

The slate gray lanes stretched ahead

In never-meeting parallels

Bordered by sepulchral white lines.

Conifers stood sentry in charcoal gray

Speckled with previous flurries.

What is ahead in my road, but Gray

That stole away all vitality?

Or do I see pearly white streaking

Through the gray-mantled sky?

Into my days, the girl stepped in;

She tapped and tapped

And brought rhythm to my days.

She tapped on Sunday

And the Sun shone brighter.

She tapped on Monday

And the Moon cast silvery light.

She tapped on Tuesday

And kept Tyr from waging war.

She tapped on Wednesday

And the patch-eyed Wodin smiled.

She tapped on Thursday

And Thor flung his hammer.

She tapped on Friday

And Freya came to the house.

She tapped on Saturday

And sent misfortune’s Saturn away.

For the rest of my days,

Let her tap away my days.

I gazed

Into twin pools of amber

Fringed by curly long lashes

And drowned.

The black flecks in the pupils

Wrought mischief around me.

It was just my first glance;

I was enticed and enthralled,

Feelings churned up and around.

This was NEW!

Heart palpitated

And shook with doubts

Of unreadiness

For the tumult,

For the havoc,

For the surges and ebbs,

And the unchatered realms.

What is this, queried self,

Tremulous from the first attack

Of love at first sight.

I breathed love

In Spring’s fragrance

When cherry blossoms showered

Soft white ovals

On my palms,

On my hair,

On my lashes

And on my nosetips,

Feather-touching

With the flutter of gentle breeze

When I walked on cushioned softness

Under my feet, on the white carpet

Which smoothed the green spikes

Of the meadow grass.

Grief has a way of showing up

When least expected.

One may be

In the middle of muddled thoughts,

In the middle of celestial imagination,

In the middle of frenzied activity,

In the middle of mundane packing

Or in the middle of old missives.

Grief raises its head

Unprovoked, uninvited,

It’s tentacles gripping,

Giving intense pain

And vivid longings.

Grief colors my thoughts

In my daily routines;

It enthralls my spirit

And I am a captive, helpless.

I seek relief

From entrapped feelings

Of what has gone before

And what will never happen.

I search for alleviation

In fantasy and romance

And found faux panacea!

Love is a conundrum:

I pondered and ruminated

On a pensive afternoon

And plucked daisy petals to answer

“Loves me , loves me not” question.

The gentle balmy breeze

Of the mild midsummer

Snuggled close to me

And wafted soft breaths

Towards my cheeks,

Caressing tenderly,

The wisps and tendrils of hair

Touching and soothing,

Leaving lover’s kisses.

The warmth brushed my skin,

Comforting me, engulfing me-

And I felt love beside me.

Love and life shook hands

And squeezed the grape of ecstasy to a pulp.

The ecstasy passed in a twinkling,

But the purple stain is left behind,

The stain of memories that linger

To the distraction of mind and soul.