Sunflowers Poem by Soumili Karmakar

Someone gave me sunflower seeds,
Remembering my devotion toward sunflowers—
Always loving them from afar,
Knowing I would never buy sunflower bouquets,
Forgetting that time could never be counted in moments of love,
But in dreary battles of unspoken grief.

Sunflowers basking under the sun
Had been my favorite trope.
I tried to recall the genre,
I tried,
Oh, how I tried!
I tried and failed, I tried and loved,
I tried until passing through the edges of time
To find one glimpse of hope
In a dreary land of solitary sands.

After the grey skies have undone
The knotted strings of my heart,
I was again looking for sunflowers,
Wishing the sun would call my name,
Wishing endlessly and hopelessly
That bees would remember my flames.
The blossoming adoration of sunflowers
Is now blooming under the sunlight.
However, my moonlight still sings for stars,
Wishing for once, and for all, to gain a love
That would gently stay or pass by of its own wish like a glimmering dove.

To know the miseries of a helpless child,
Trembling but standing, by holding her soul in the midnight,
Beside the river where the Past floats like a stream of tears,
And my sunflowers dance miraculously after the rain, defeating fears.

What does sacrifice look like?
Are not my sunflowers rich in love as forgivers?
Are not your sunflowers' dreams like our very own hearts?
I try and I try,
Oh, how I try and I drown!
I try and I fall,
I try and, then, finally I rise and swim toward the shore of lilacs.

Binding a flower's petals is not a curse but a sin;
A sin for you and for me,
But still, why do humans bind my sunflowers and call it a gift?

These questions remain unasked;
They are ever-present in all my days.
The prophet, too, doesn't voice his musings.
It might be that we both, as lovers and worshippers,
Couldn't get our freedom to speak against Separation.
Oh, my friend!
A love that only sunflowers could understand,
A birth that made an impact,
Which we as humans could only remember—
And remember we must, even after our graves.