In her Foreword,  the poet, an economist by education, bureaucrat by profession, and an artist and author by heart, Dr.Sudha Kumari, from the Indian Revenue Service,  says, “The book is divided into five sections according to the content- the Short Poems section containing 30 very short poems ; the Humanity section containing various emotions and responses of the human heart; the Nature section containing tribute to the Nature beautiful and bountiful; the Nation section dedicated to our country and motherland with a feeling of gratitude for giving life, voice, self- respect and identity and lastly, the Divinity section which is dedicated to the Almighty who is formless, without a human shape and body but is Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient who listens to and answers the sincere prayers in all language.”
 

The first section consists of fist- sized poems, which have a lingering impact.  We find that the sensitive poet has an evergreen fragrance in her heart that has a rendezvous with light. With a unique use of metaphors and similes, the poet creates an idyllic world where the sun, moon, stars and sleeping buds create an exquisite aura, in which the reader wants to be everlastingly drenched.

 

In one of the poems in this section, she says,

“Reminiscence
Comes like a deer
Soft, innocent
Departs
Like a lioness
After the hunt.”
 

 The very first poem in the second section, Humanity Section, is Neap Tide, where the poet gives a vivid description of the pounding waves, making our ears prick to the sounds of splosh, splash, and splatter of the waves
 

“The full moon
Like golden ship
Floats above
The milky sky
Down below
Enchanted ocean
Moonstruck
Pounding waves
in Restless heart.
 

In Feeling of Spring, we can almost feel her heart throbbing with compassion, when she says that there are a thousand new blossoms, as Spring dawns,
 

“And yet I’m waiting for the spring
To see smiles
On faces chilled
Drying up
Of hunger and disdain,
Blooming of
Humanity n’ hope
Heart’s desires fulfilled- “
 

In her melodious Tulip Song, she waxes poetic thus:
 

“Silent pain
Love’s disdain
Roller coaster
Of emotion.
All roads do not
Lead to Rome
Some just wander
Some are home! [Tulip Song]

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The book has inspirational words too, exhorting people to stand up resiliently after every fall, defying gravity.
 

“In a stormy
Weather
when you fall
And lie low,
Do not bite
The dust, stand tall
[Law of Gravity]
 

I have always felt a very close bond with nature, and my pen has spontaneously erupted into a litany of nature poems, at the sight of flowers, birds, trees and mountains. So her Nature Section, left me with a fuzzy feeling all over- the soft moonrays peeping through jasmine leaves, birds flying unshackled in the expansive skies and the poet imagining herself flying with them, looking at the floating clouds and the glowing faces of hills. In her nature poetry, we hear the mountains singing, the silent rocks speaking and the nightingale,  singing soft and sweet songs.
 

 In The Seeds of Love, she beseeches the nightingale to come again. 

​

‘Come again, O nightingale
My garden waits for you.
your songs are lovely
Soft and sweet

Reminds me of few lines of F Dostoyevsky, “Love every leaf…love the animals, love the plants, love everything. You will perceive the divine mystery in things.”
 

In the delightful poem, O Bird O bird, she pens her thoughts thus:

Moving free in reddening clouds
A merry flight it is
Dancing on the joyous wind
Beautiful and small
A tiny dot on red western wall!
And Here am I
Bound in many a chain
Striving in vain
A mighty tree of future
Trimmed and wound Into a bonsai
Lined along
A beautiful wall
Within a decorated hall !  
 

She further exhorts the blue Bird to come near her as

“I want to carve
The name of liberty
On your wing.
 

In The Year of Great Expectations, she expresses the hope that, the citizens of India will try to build a new, rejuvenated, strong India:  
 

“Let’s make in India
A steel frame
Strong, trusted and un-rusted
Like the iron pillar of Mehrauli
Let the flesh of the nation
Sweat and burn the fat
Let the bony system
Hold the nation
Straight and upright
And keep on the track right.”
 

This book echoes the words of the writer that it ‘is a sincere effort to unite all human beings in one string of peace, love and happiness irrespective of caste, creed and cultures of all human beings.”
 

For, trees of love and happiness
Grow in every season!’ She says in The Seeds of Love.

In the  Divinity Section, the poet pleads to be free from all soul-shackling fetters and mundane bonds and craves to listen to the music flowing from creation, and that divine light that she may

“see your creation
      From your kind eyes “

[The Tide]  
 

The rhythmic cadence, the unique use of onomatopoeia, metaphors and similes makes this lovely, sleek book an interesting read and can be presented as a gift to poetry lovers on their special days. The cover image of The Tide by the poet- artist herself is intriguingly beautiful.

Looking forward to more writings from the pen of the sensitive poet.