Sunglare shine on longshore drift
the rippled sand aglow
down here in early evening
as the sunshine sinks down low
Cool the lapping wavelets
from the brilliance of day
as barefoot here I wander
whilst around me seagulls play
Came back to the beach hut
the weather was fine
and with no one else here
the beach was all mine
A warm breeze from the east
blew in from the sea
and the sun overhead
smiled brightly on me
And I knew this was better
than work any day
so it's nice to have one
I can spend in this way
Summer in abandon
grey and rainy every day
sometimes very windy
and quite miserable I'll say
The sun has gone on holiday
and left us quite alone
which isn't very thoughtful
as we're still stuck at home
So long days lounging on the beach
are absent at this time
as are evenings out the back
with a warm glass of wine
But just around the corner
August waits with bated breath
so perhaps there is a glimmer
for us here, the bereft
Back in the fifties
and born to the sun
a Thursday's child
knew he had begun
Growing up in the sixties
never sun to eschew
this Thursday's child
was still nearly new
And then cam the seventies
formative years
a teen to his twenties
with joy and yes, tears
Mock Orange and the bumblebees
buzzing in the sun
spreading fragrance in the garden
now the summertime is come
The deepest blue of sky above
the wisp of clouds, the breeze
warm and gentle on my brow
and cool upon my knees
The mist above the river
was ethereal today
most evident on the bypass
as back home we made our way
The golden of the sunshine
like a yellow echo there
as we drove into the spectral
which consumed most everywhere
So I’ve not written ’bout the beach
for quite a while it seems
but today is quite appropriate
with all these new sunbeams
For it seemed the summer left us
when August’s evening came
yet now it’s back and shouting
lest we forget its name
Concluding the Jemverse ’12 months III’ series [12 of 12]
Inevitably August time
when this month comes around
would see us looking forward
to a holiday we’d found
Somewhere hot and balmy
and usually on a ship
far across the ocean
for our destination trip
And when Monday was finished
with Tuesday begun
the February sunshine arrived
Still weak with the winter
bereft yet of warmth
at least it could say that it tried
Blankets are leaving, we are all naked
as newborns, with sunglasses on our eyes.
The bluegreen day with yellow tint
is disguised as grey,
and we can’t blink
until the park is met, until our feet get wet;
it’s a savanna, and the rhododendrons
flare, and my compass knows
the way, the tide will take me out
come noon.
I wrote this poem in Hindi couple of days back. This is a rarity for me. Hindi is not my mother tongue and Hindi grammar, specially keeping track of the change in gender of the subject / object / verb combination is difficult for me. From time to time I did venture in writing a few. I translated the poem to Axomiya ( Assamese – my mother tongue) and to English . Posting these below with English translation first followed by original Hindi poem and then Axomiya translation.
( In the Assamese translation, the translated word for Eerie ( or strange) is a compound word “Advut”. Even with my best try, my PC ( Windows 10) will not allow this compound letter/ word to be written properly. So I was forced to replace it with a synonym, Achahua.
Eerie this feeling of loneliness
Lips have not kissed the bottle
