Monsoon Musings Poem by Dilip Mohapatra

Psychedelic display
of celestial lights
as sounds of the falling rains
play the incessant notes
on the corrugated sheets
interspersed with the bellowing
of thunder
and the muddy water gushes
in the gutters
carrying paper boats
drifting rudderlessly in glee.

Few leaking roofs
in the shanties
water dripping into broken buckets
but who cares?
And the oil boils in the cauldron
on the smoking hearth
in the corner
as the moist firewood singe
and sing their own dirge.
The rheumy eyes of
the famished farmer
light up with hope for
a better harvest
enough to last him a year
as he sips from his
dented aluminium mug
a concoction of insipid ginger tea
and waits for the pakoras.

The termites take wings
to enjoy few hours of glory
and fly in their feverish ritual
as long as they last
to fall in heaps
into the puddles
to float amidst
the wilted Gulmohar
as an old frog croaks
perched on a rotten piece of log
salivating with the prospects
of a long awaited feast.

Under the cover
of feigned darkness
that creeps through
the window panes
little wars are raged
in known terrains
amongst known adversaries
in the cozy comforts
of the soft satiny quilt
but with no collateral damage
warmth exchanges
between sweaty bodies
in a slow osmosis.

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