Banyan tree

A magic machine, a friend, hope, and faith
As if a green canopy with the sun, moon, and twinkling stars.
As if it were a dream where a bird was peeking and pecking on the branches,
Sliding and hiding. Leaping and falling from the blue as if stitching
And weaving design with threads hanging to the ground and
Growing a new design. Filled with joy like the earth after rain.
Building nests and eating insects, as if a
building with its many tenants’ lodging
Giving back what it got.

Glowing Lady

Wake up! My heart, it’s time to see her
Fill the eyes with her beauty
Those five petals of Kachnar
Delicate yet bright
Blooms without fright
Though weak, yet fearless
What a stamen!
Heart-shaped leaf filled with love
The sun is kissing and filling
The bright enchantress of the forest
All bees and insects are your slaves
Colourful, you have coloured the forest
Of all the pleasures, there is more pleasure
In your sight, with colour so bright.

Semal

This red fire in the forest is not burning but blooming and blossoming.
You shot an arrow with your colour and took my heart and fired my imagination.
Flowers or just a big five-petaled red flower with a silky touch. Not one but so many.
Semal is a beautiful love poem. Semal, the cheek of a damsel. Semal, the dawn & the dusk.
Semal. My love
It’s like a red flower, red petals, red stamen, red heart full of love, full of Semal.
All branches, all shoots, all directions, the right, the left, the centre, all red,
all laden with flowers. All over flowers and flowers.
The flowers on the tree, the flowers o  n the ground and the flowers in the sky
Don’t confuse them with Palash. Palash, the fiery saffron.
But Semal is Semal. Semal is not Palash, nor Palash is Semal.
Fluffy cotton is your gift, my Semu.
Soft, sweet, shiny, Semu.
Yes, my silky cotton, you are not short. You are tall with a thorny trunk.
Oh! Fill this earth with resilience and fertility. O fill it with Semal.

*Semal: A flowering tree that blossoms during the summer season

About the Author: Pulkita Anand is an avid reader of poetry. Author of two children’s e-books, her recent eco-poetry collection is ‘We Were Not Born to be Erased‘. Various publications include: New Verse News, Green Verse: An anthology of poems for our planet (Saraband Publication), Comparative Women, Origami Press, Asiatic, Inanna Publication, Bronze Bird Books, SAGE Magazine, The Sunlight Press and elsewhere.