MANGO PLUCKERS
1) Scurrying one after another we went
Armed with wedged poles to sight by scent
To pluck the yellow fruits concealed
A playful task with joy we reeled
To find, to pluck and gently toss
Into the shells of bamboo bedded with grass.
2) Some climb with skill to pluck the prize
Others look up with prying eyes
Some catch the booty thrown from height
Their playful mirth doth make work light.
An air of togetherness felt by all
No hard work is this; a sport this fall
Of golden globes from bushy leaves;
To run and chuckle, each other tease
The bruised fruits for lesser use;
The poor lads licked the fruits let loose.
3) Whenev'r a fruit was found and hit
A cry of joy from eyes that flit
From branch to branch with a greedy smile
Shaking the leaves to capture the pile;
A round of mango heap entire
With ripened smell and ruddy fire;
We craned our necks to spy aloft
We poked our shafts with gentle craft
To pluck if any hidden fruit soft
With aching limbs and gaze enrapt.
4) The birds driven by pluckers fly
Look far from a safe distance high;
The tree shorn of her fruitful show
Looks bare with empty sacrificial glow:
A soul that gives her all to share
Ripens in full by godly care.
5) Our labor sweetened with ultimate prize
A share of buxom yellow fruit ;
For young and old, a feast for eyes;
This naked tree now none can loot;
We went away uncaring summer's heat
Till next mango season with memories sweet.
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6th April, 2015 SOMASESHU GUTALA
Note:
The dream-experience after picking apples in the orchard is beautifully articulated by Robert Frost(1874--1963 ) in his poem " After Apple-picking" (1914). There the poet says "I am overtired/ of the great harvest I myself desired." " I am done with apple-picking now." But in this poem "Mango-pluckers", the agile children enjoyed to their hearts' content the toilsome act of mango-plucking and ate mangoes without caring the intense heat of the Indian summer. It is a factual experience where work and delight meet.
The mango tree denuded of her luscious and ripe, yellow fruits represents the generous
and selfless Mother Nature who still shines with sacrificial glow. The children leave satisfied with their abundant store of fruits till nature beckons them again in summer season. I used irregular stanzas to capture the free spirit of playful children enjoying their activity. Frost's poem inspired me to write this lyric suited to our Indian context and surroundings.
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