by Jyoti Verma
The themes of unwavering love, expressing it and, finding joy and contentment in this devotion are predominant in this free verse by Jyoti Verma. The gardener and her flowers are archetypal metaphors for devotion. A bunch of sunflowers’ ‘silliness’ is overcome when it embraces its essence and in doing so, makes the gardener happy too.
I’m the yellow bunch
the gardener never forgets
to water.
In sickness and in health,
she has been here
for her sunflowers.
Unlike the sun,
often prevented by
thunder, clouds, mist and night –
the one I turn to;
his absence makes me dull and droopy.
The gardener has been here
even in sun’s sickness.
And so, I forced
my limb to turn to her instead.
It let out a crunch
and gave in.
One of the flowers died that day.
Sighing, the gardener blamed
the silly kids.
I was the silly one all along.
I still turn to the only one
I could.
But I bloom,
a bright spot of joy,
for the one
who stayed on cloudy days.
Jyoti Verma is an undergraduate student from Solan, Himachal Pradesh. She is a short-story writer and a poet. She has published ‘Through Young Eyes’, a short-story anthology on Amazon and has also been featured in Muse India. She has won many short-story contests and a print anthology which features her work is forthcoming.
Omaigod these are gorgeous words. Thank you for sharing with us. Hope to read more from you!