Six poems excerpted from Trips and Trials: A Selection of Poems and Songs by Jayshree Misra Tripathi, published by PepperScript 

I 

Molten pools, liquid fire 

Dancing in mischief, 

Recollections of joy; 

Ablaze with passion 

Of a deep-rooted anger 

At mankind’s inhumanity; 

Softly aglow with love’s special light, 

Bedimmed, moist, once the passion’s spent; 

Truly the poets have spoken: 

Eyes reflect the soul. 

Sunlight 

Peeping through crevices 

Into a darkened room, 

Dewdrops

Glistening in the morning sun, 

Starlight 

Beckoning into the mystical beyond, 

Raindrops 

Caressing my face in a light evening shower, 

Your eyes are all this to me. 

III 

Injustice still stalks the earth untamed, 

I sense your pain, the futility of it all 

Each time you walk through the door 

My words freeze, suspended mid-air —

the day’s events shrivel, forlorn, unsung, 

Exiled forever. 

But I do not despair, Life goes on. 

We now find peace in pregnant silence, 

Sipping tea on the terrace, so civilized, 

Growing older tentatively. 

Your eyes flicker, mine respond: 

So much is left unsaid

For another time, another day. 

ls it already too late? 

How am I to interpret this transition? 

With the mercy of a Woman 

Or the sudden anguish 

Of a Child?