You may know that April is National Poetry Month, but did you know that tomorrow, Friday April 29, is “Poem in Your Pocket” Day? People are encouraged to “celebrate by selecting a poem, carrying it with them, and sharing it with others throughout the day”. I am choosing to share here a short poem by Toru Dutt, originally published in Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan (C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1882). It speaks to me of the spring we have been flirting with this year.
Sonnet—Baugmaree
A sea of foliage girds our garden round,
But not a sea of dull unvaried green,
Sharp contrasts of all colours here are seen;
The light-green graceful tamarinds abound
Amid the mangoe clumps of green profound,
And palms arise, like pillars gray, between;
And o’er the quiet pools the seemuls lean,
Red,—red, and startling like a trumpet’s sound.
But nothing can be lovelier than the ranges
Of bamboos to the eastward, when the moon
Looks through their gaps, and the white lotus changes
Into a cup of silver. One might swoon
Drunken with beauty then, or gaze and gaze
On a primeval Eden, in amaze.
Please consider sharing a poem you love or that inspires you with a friend tomorrow – either in person or at #pocketpoem.