Guavas Trees in Our Tiny Garden. Poem by Nabakishore Dash

Two in number,
The bigger old one bears
medium size fruits.
What is eye-popping,
it never renders a fruit lover
hopeless to enjoy its
sweet juice.

The new smaller tree
bears big size, sweet
guavas, the pulp being
softer than the former.
Its produce is available,
not throughout, but only
twice a year.

Birds and squirrels are
regular visitors, monkeys
visit occasionally.
Passers by are
ardent searchers who
pluck to load their
their pockets and belly.


Rich in vitamin c, dietary fibres,
anti-oxidants, it regulates
digestion, bowel movement, blood pressure, sugar and boosts
immunity when fully mature.
The animals
come to feed when ripe,
go away when fully
satisfied whereas humans,
to our surprise and dismay,
start wasting even when
raw and immature.

Some just bite and throw,
Some bend, break branches
without thinking about
the injury they pose for
the tree's growth.
When forbidden to do so,
their anger goes up,
grimace their face, some
even scold us both.

Provision of cow dung manure,
Sprinkling water in
in the scorching heat
of summer are done by
me and wife.
We enjoy, to our heart's content, the behaviour of foraging animals, but aberrational
human activities
remind us of our undignified
social life.