If I Knew Then What I Know Now

By Preeth Ganapathy

I would stop by the shade of the oak tree
Watch ants ferry dry leaves to its bark
Bounce raindrops off my fingertips
Bask in the glow of marigolds and tulips

 

Pluck silvery fish from a mirror-sky
Drop them into the ripples of a blue sea
Lick the taste of an afternoon sun
And touch the scent of a soft-bellied firefly

 

Linger over every colon and comma
Savour the meaning cupped in parentheses
Pause at the thrum of every second, listen to its note
Feel the flutter of a moment settle into a sepia memory

 

Preeth Ganapathy from India has seen her work published in magazines such as The Young Ravens Literary Review, Mothers Always Write, Buddhist Poetry Review, Spillwords,The Ekphrastic Review, Visual Verse and Willawaw Journal, and others. She is also the winner of Wilda Morris’s July 2020 Poetry Challenge. She works as Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax in Bengaluru, India.