An Appraisal In Orange County Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

I am sunning myself
In my courtyard in Orange County,
In our Private Pool Villa No 702
Of the older part of the resort,
When a small bird does
An undulating flight
Between two foliages at a height
Making me think of small forms
Of life, the bright ladybug
And then the mosquito
The smaller biting insects, spoken
Of in the Bhagavad Gita as the forms
Evil men take in the next birth!
Really, if life is holy, precious,
How I am still so careless of single life
As Tennyson spoke about Nature?

At the same time, the fussy Jain
Who sweeps his path before walking
Or refuses to eat in the dusk afraid
That he may gulp living creatures
Tends to put me off a bit, though.

Tilaka my wife brings me a cup of coffee
And a biscuit which she forbade
A little earlier, and says,
'Coffee is not too hot', knowing
That I like it steaming hot: I praise her
'None can look after me as well as she does.'

Now I appreciate her for all the nice things
She has done to me and my parents and siblings:
I realize my mistake of not having done it earlier
But I dont want to overdo the remedy now.
She is lively, intelligent, good
And is above all great company.
Is completely self-reliant so much so
I am many times helpless like an unemployed!
She is most unlike an Indian wife,
Bold, learns it fast, and does it herself
Without expecting, or leaning on, her husband
To get it done!