SANTOSH BAKAYA

 

The Song Of Unity

 

The magnanimous rains

Showered flowers all around.

They were there on the ground -

 

Red, yellow, white, and red

- Not just in flowerbeds.

 

I found them while walking

On the jogging

track.

Near the tea vendor’s kiosk.

On the sidewalk; in tiny cracks,

as if performing their duty

Of adding fragrance, and beauty

 To the surroundings unobtrusively.

I watched, beguiled.

They looked up, and unitedly they smiled. 

The same smile of hope and rebirth.

 

The earth

smiled too, tinged with the hue

of rejuvenation.  

 

I gaped at the diversity of flowers

 Gulmohar, Bougainvillea,

Rose and marigold, touched with the same rays of gold.

 

Different hues

So diverse - but smiling the same way-

With the same celebratory fervor.

So what if they were lying down in disarray?

They would rise

Rise

Rise

Humming the song of unity!

 

The Primal Voice Of Survival

 

Do we ever observe the unity in Nature's kingdom,

thrumming with a thousand and one voices?

Who is the Manager here?

Who the supervisor? 

 

What an enormous diversity we see in the ecosystem!

Different species with different means of survival.

 

There is a power that rectifies imbalances in nature-

uniting them in their diverse survival strategies.

There are many species, but none can survive in lonely splendour.

The mammoth, the strong, the tender, the slender, and the tall.

The thread of harmony unites all.

The mama bear languorously plods on, kids in tow.

Monkeys chatter the trees down.

The elephants trumpet, the lions roar.

 

Someone booming out in a bass voice,

someone squeaking, another squawking.

Coos and hoots. Growling and howling.

Chirps and tweets. Mooing and bleating.

Hissing and croaking. Oinking and woofing...

 

But all voices merge into one!

 

The collective wisdom to read the jungle.

The primal voice of survival!

 

SANTOSH BAKAYA

 

SANTOSH BAKAYA PhD, Academic, poet, essayist, reviewer, novelist, creative writing mentor, columnist and TEDx speaker, is an award- winning writer who has written thirty- one books across genres. Her latest solo book, At Thirty Minutes Past One and other poems, 2025, has been well- received. Her TEDx talk on the Myth of Writer’s Block is very popular in creative writing workshops. The Relic, a multi- author international anthology, 2025, coedited with Dr. Meenakshi Mohan is also receiving critical acclaim.