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Autumn

An evocative poem by Dr Swaraj about the many moods of nature in Autumn, exclusively for Different Truths.

A gentle caress of yellow breeze
Loosens tenuous grip on life
A dangling banyan leaf
Floats glides turns swoons, unhurried
Then dives the beaten kite, unwilling
Another gentle touch of yellow breeze
Buffets the beaten kite
Surges, dreaming skies
Free fall arrested
A midair moment, suspended
Flutters quivers whirls wheels
In motion slow
Languidly noiselessly
Sliding to earth silently
A beaten kite
Among hundreds
Yellow ochre red
Death-kissed

Picture by the author

author avatar
Prof. Swaraj Raj
Prof. Swaraj Raj is a Patiala-based freelance writer, translator, a keen photographer, and nature enthusiast. He retired as Professor of English and Dean, Faculty of Languages, Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, Fatehgarh Sahib. He has more than 70 publications to his credit in journals and books.
19 Comments Text
  • A caress to death- Wonderful! With your writing erupts the volcano of imagery! A sallow leaf of autumn got gerontological illness, and in the end, they fall to the dear earth. The poem is fraught with import and implication.
    Time doesn’t age but its materiality of subjects preys to decay. An artistic portraiture of a leaf in a grandiloquent manner.
    ©Basudev Paul

  • Paul Sahib, you’ve your own inimitable style. I am no match to your grandiloquence and perceptions. Thanks for your generosity.

    Swaraj

  • The interplay of the two images of beaten kite and floating-falling leaf are poignant and potent enough to create so many unsaid layers of meanings that the poem becomes much larger and deeper than it appears to be. As usual, Dr. Swaraj is thought provoking in his expression.

    • Thanks a lot Sir. You are really generous to a fault with your praise of whatever I write. And your comments always give new ways of chewing my cud. I’m really grateful.
      Swaraj

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