Ruminant Pleasures Poem by AtreyaSarma Uppaluri

When I have the luxury of being left alone and lazing on bed
The mind’s eye ambles through the veils of past to recap
The many moments unfading, ever memorable and ruminant:

The quaint way my jealous mother promptly looked to my needs,
The countless ways she covered my numberless peccadilloes;
The way my gritty father struggled on to keep going my studies
And stood like a rock by people and for causes righteous;
The naïve fun and frolic I had with my long lost childhood friends
In the eerie crannies of the vast and idyllic countryside;

The capering calf sucking its kindly mother in a foamy bliss;
My gentle brush of the complaisant cow on her downy skin;
The whine and purr of my canine pet squirming on in circles
To reach and peck at the itching tip of his bushy curled tail;
The frisky gambols and nimble U-turns of the nibbling squirrel
Breaking the peanut open and fastidiously feasting on the kernel;

The kaleidoscope of my childhood pranks and prattles;
The wooing thrills and frills in the beaming youth;
The way I jumped into brink-balanced adventures
Heedless of well-meant warnings of near and dear;

The motley ’musements of my filial flowers and fruits
And the sight of twinkles in their wondrous eyes;

The golden runway-like streaks
Up on the westward evening sky;
The cascading rain on a free holiday dawn
When I am snuggled up in my cosy hearth
Reading a novel through in solitude
Pepped by copious cups of complacent coffee;

The chiaroscuro of the little brownie points
That came off and on in my life;
And then the few times I managed to crack
My favourite paper’s crossword full…

Now I was jolted and shaken up, as I heard:
“Would you just vegetate
Chewing the same old cud? ” -
I broke out of my reverie
And set out to seek afresh
Present springs for future sips.

[Jan 29,2009: : Hyderabad - 500 056]