Triparshva Renku: The Hawk's Grand Swoop

the winter sun –
its slow rise above
the hawk's grand swoop

on the corner
men huddle around a fire

our plan takes shape
in scribbles on a torn-off
scrap of paper

dispelling any doubt
your allergic sneeze

in the warm air
a fragrant scent of jasmine
through the moonbeams

I seek a little shade
in this parched riverbed

* * * *  

Hanuman leaps
over to Sri Lanka
landing centre-stage

spinal damage to the
Tamil dictionary

a moment's glint
from three points on your face
as lightning flashes

her longing eyes search
the rain drenched path

this velvet touch...
how can I be expected
to resist?

quietly, the heavy door
shuts out the future

save the forests!
a human chain of students
on a morcha

our shadows bend and rise
around the scarecrow

rich and poor
on towers of silence
underneath one moon

without a thought
the dragonfly floats away

* * * *  

they come together
fingers and a thumb
to pinch the salt

through golden rice
a roaming herd of does

hissing steam
the old engine as it
struggles up the hill

a neighbour's bold kite
dives to meet the meek

her voice
mango blossom fresh
fills the concert hall

laughing loudly as my
shirt turns red and green

composed between January and March 2006
v ia email

Kala Ramesh - Pune, India
Yajushi - Hyderabad, India
Norman Darlington - Bunclody, Ireland (lead poet)

Verse 18 is from Kalidasa's Sanskrit poem, Ritu Samharam (Gathering of the Seasons), Canto 4 (5th Century ME)

Dedicated to the memory of Yajushi's mother, M. Radha Sundari, who died on 11th March 2006, having lived to see a thousand full moons.

morcha: protest march (Indian English)
towers of silence: Parsees (Indian Zoroastrians) dispose of their dead in an open tower, leaving the corpses to the vultures. This structure is known as a dakhma (Avestan: “tower of silence”)