Interpretation

How do you interpret small miracles in the Universe?
the Palash all in bloom, looking ruby red like a devi
from a distance,
a baby’s cry so shriek
capable of waking the dead in the dense forest,
the cantaloupe opening like a vagina
with countless sunshine seeds of hope,
the burning of a pink candle
on new moon luring new love,
blowing the fluffy nucleus
of a dandelion upon a wish,
a mother rocking her adopted child
teary with the astounding news
of an angel in her womb.
‘What is the source of all this’? asks the seeker
the child who is only eighteen moons old
stands up from the tribe sitting in a circle,
“I think the Sun is the reason of our being
the metaphysical prologue to Life”

Silence prevails as Truth
          c
            a
          s
            c
          a
            d
          e
            s

from the mouth of a child,
“and what is epilogue?”
asks the curious seeker.
“Again the Sun that sets every day,

the beginning of the end
the end of the beginning”
the affable child proclaims,
his eyes are closed, semi ennobled, he looks like a Messiah.

‘Interpretation’ is from the book ‘The Empress’

Gayatri Lakhiani Chawla is an award-winning poet, translator and French teacher from Mumbai. Her poems have been published in International anthologies and journals such as ‘The American Poetry Anthology’,‘ The Indian P.E.N.’, ‘Modern Poetry Translation’, ‘Setu’, ‘The Hans India’ , ‘The Bombay Review’, ‘Narrow Road’ , ‘Madras Courier’ and ‘Open Road Review’. Her poems are featured in the anthology ‘Modern English Poetry by Younger Indians’ published by Sahitya Akademi, Red River Book of Haibun, ‘Hibiscus’ and ‘Open Your Eyes’. Her poem won a Commendation Prize at ‘The All India Poetry Competition'(India). She was a featured writer for Wordweavers Poetry Contest 2015/16. Her poem is featured as Poetry in Pamphlet by Verse of Silence. She is the author of two poetry collections, ‘Invisible Eye’ and ‘The Empress’. ‘Invisible Eye’ was long listed for Cochin Lit Fest Poetry Prize 2018. ‘The Empress’ was Winner –II of the 2018 US National Poetry Contest by Ræd Leaf Foundation for Poetry & Allied Arts. ‘The Empress’ won the Write Publish Publicize Contest at the Bengaluru Poetry Festival 2019. Her poem won a special mention award in the Architectural Poetry Annual Competition by Architectural Journalism and Criticism.