Annual Rings
As wings to birds are annual rings
To trees and to us
It gets lighter—the core-- as our memories cease to be just memories
And begin to spread into season of sun and light
All exploration ceased
All tentative moves ended.
The larger our space extends
The lighter our inner selves
Trees and birds and us, all one.
Our flight as days flit by is defined in marked territories
Of loneliness. Like birds we scatter with light.
As trees we extend deeper into earth’s core.
Our annual rings spread way beyond
Any calendar and casual time. It is our history’s
Sacred spread, our wingspan way out of time.
All we can explore is that which is not us.
And that is what keeps us afloat
Like old timber in the river of dreams.
Our annual rings are feathery light to the touch
To keep us in flight. Treelike we grow, birdlike in flight.
As wings to birds are annual rings
To trees and to us.
The Slant of Sunlight
The day picks its way
on soft toes, sparing the dried leaves
floating around the yard.
The sun too does not stray
too far from this end of the sky.
My eye can travel only this far
like the faint summer slip of moon--
a delicate trace on that western sky.
Under each grain of sand
Under each sliver of grass
Last night’s rain has hid fragments of opulence.
Can I invert this light beam
And reach the farthest star?
Little said, the rain whispers
There is so much distance between me and you
Murali Sivaramakrisnan, poet, painter, and literary critic, was former Professor and Chair of the Department of English, Pondicherry University. He has authored several books and a number of critical essays and seven volumes of poetry. As artist and poet he is also a committed Environmentalist. He has held nineteen solo exhibitions of his paintings. He is the founding President of ASLE India. Email : s
[email protected]
