Jasmine in the dust

One evening
I saw a jasmine lying in the dust
Beside the road
I don’t know where it fell from
May be from a wedding garland
Or from a young girls hair
Perhaps from a funeral procession
that went that way

Now it is there
Shining clean amidst the dirty
Surroundings
As I passed by it, I felt
A faint tinge of aroma
Of jasmines in the air…
One little flower
A floating gossamer of smell..

The jasmine will lie there
Until somebody walks over it
Or it gets stampede by a herd
Returning home and
Under the wheels of a vehicle
Emitting smoke.

The hander it gets crushed
The more its fragrance comes
Lie a wave, now more, now less,
Like breeze, now here, now there,
And it slowly fades away
To disappear forever….


8th april 1999