Through the Sunshine

Like plants,
my mind cooks in the sunshine
that falls down through the sieve of gooseberry leaves.
It’s an illness-cured joy
when the sun shines brightly after a few cloudy days.
This is a recurring pleasure,
especially in this age of cyclones.

Though in the pandemic lock-up,
the sunlight spurs me on to travel.
I hanker for the side-window vista
of the sunbeams falling on the tea leaves.
How long shall I wait to walk again
in the chill-mixed sunlight of Ooty,
chewing fresh carrot?
I want to fling my mask away,
lie on the sun lounger,
letting the sun warm me with the vital vitamin.

Standing behind the virus-line,
I watch a flock of temple doves
in the sunlit air.
A hen suns itself in the yard.
The unmasked delights abound around.
Yet I too have to succumb to the human fate.

First published in The Literary Hatchet (issue #30).