Offering Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

Offering


When I kissed my wife awake today
Placing the tray with three cups of coffee
On her bed she woke with, 'Where is my poem? '

This is result of my effort 'For Joti'
My daughter named after us, combining
First syllables of Joseph and Tilaka.

An erstwhile librarian in Rajabai Tower, wife
Felt publishing a book of poems, memoirs
Or anything else by retired bureaucrats

Is absurd for, as she puts it,
Nobody reads them, and pathetic to see them sell
One copy to a library or a school - or gift one.



Now she is asking where is the poem
On her - means, I hope, that she is not
Any longer dismissive of them?

Hinted to her about my 'cats at home' poem
And others on cats, but though fond
Of cats, she is not distracted to ask of them.

Tilaka is alive, vibrant and intelligent
Like a kitten, bold, active and ready to play,
And very kind to all animals and most persons!

She is the organizer of our holidays:
Does it well and enjoys each one ending
With the last in Kumbhalgarh beyond Udaipur.

I am giving Tilaka Mylove this offering
From my heart, with myrrh and frankincense,
And pray that from 62 to 100 she be the same.

21.03.2014,
Mumbai Daniel Trevelyn Joseph