For Joti Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

For Joti



The day I have enough money,
I will buy the Ranicha Bhag in full
For my daughter, because she loves watching
All birds and flowers equally and naturally.

I will go searching for all the trees out in the City,
Which blossom with pink flowers, up at a height
A-plenty, record with location and give details
To Joti for her to see and enjoy from her Vento.

Every chirping blue kingfisher near the water-bodies
In Mumbai would be located and gently invited
To neighboring Guru Nanak’s living pools of water
To be seen from her bedroom in Jasmine – with binoculars.

She prefers them to the golden orioles that at one time
Brought London traffic to a halt with their bright yellow
Shiny black suit, but here seen in fours or fives,
Male and female, daily from fifth floor of her Bandra flat.


The Chinese Lantern tree, the gorgeous Amherstia Nobilis
In our University Fort Campus, bursts in color for few days
Ahead of summer in Feb/March, when the orange flowers
Will draw her daily from 90 MG Road branch, to gaze upon.

I shall take her every summer to Delhi our capital,
And have filtered coffee under the rich and profuse
Yellow blossoms of the beautiful Indian Laburnum trees,
Except when her friend takes her to Tokyo in Japan

To take part in the tea or sake ceremony
Under the white cherry-blossom trees there
And show her the snow-peaks of Fuji-san
On which Basho’s haikus are not silent, still.

M u m b a i
19 March 2014

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