Ears Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

Saw this girl standing close in the Airport bus,
Travelling from terminal to Jet aircraft, held
A long way off in the airport
To save fuel, I guess, and protect environment
At the cost of human time and effort,
Available in plenty in Mumbai at least.

She must be nineteen, her skin fair and flawless:
It was her dainty ear that drew my attention,
Lovely curves and lines, and within all of them
Not a speck of dust or distortion in those whorls
And creases ending as a picture drawn by a master.
It was not burdened with jewel or ear-tops,
Despite the tiny hole - just a black dot on the lobe.


She had lips, flushed and fruity,
Pink as her dress, lips outlined with brown
It was lipstick I thought first, it was her lip-skin.
She had small breasts, but there is still time:
Sporting a pair of dark brown sunglasses
With a brocaded gold-rim.

Her hair was loosely tied up
With one clip at top, and another ribbon
For the pony-tail above her slanting neck.
Her hand on a man’ arm in front,
I guessed her Dad.
When she spoke to her father, she smiled
White teeth with healthy gums, neat as her ears.

Her mother was sitting half-hidden in front
This girl spoke to only in gestures and eyebrows.
Walked ahead with parents to ladder,
(Her mother in more modern tight dress,)
Said that they were in row number 21,
To the ticket-tearing guy on the Boeing to Hyderabad.

For once I wished I had an Economy seat.
World is great to live in, because of youth like her.