Crystals
By Preeth Ganapathy

 

At the entrance ofthe haloed crystal hall,
the guard asks us to deposit our phones.
No photographs please,he addssternly.

 

Under the flood of low wattage bulbs,
the crystals glitter from behind the glass displays -
on the head and foot boards,
the side rails of the royal beds,
on an array of a hundred shot glasses,
on the hilt of the khanda, on the gilt-edged
medals and trophies.
Do-Not-Touch signboards litter spaces
on the corridor, lest we forget.

 

We loiter and reach the end of the display.
The cool lake waters below,
cobalt through the little latticed square window.

 

And there,ripple after ripple of water,
sparkles like little diamonds in the afternoon sun,

no crystal in the hall - evera match for their glitter.

The clear waters and the golden sunshow
how it is done right,
how to playwith sight,
showhow some of the best things
in life are free
and full of light.
*khanda – a double edged sword

 

Damselfly on the Runway

 

The damselfly taxis over the indigo runway
of the morning while the skies whisper
in raindrops.
I peer at her mid-air dance
through the tiny, rectangular window
of the airplane I am in. She sashays forward
and back, steps sideways, descends down and swoops high
before making that perfect twirl,
her paper-thin wings
rowing so fast -
they almost look still,
oblivious of her giant winged fleet of friends-
the airplanes,
just like her, waiting for the right time
to take off.

 

Preeth Ganapathy is a software engineer turned civil servant from Bengaluru, India. Her recent works have been published in several magazines such as Last Stanza Poetry Journal, The Ekphrastic Review, Star 82 Review, Panoply Zine, Tiger Moth Review, The Sunlight Press, Ink, Sweat & Tears and various other journals. Her microchaps 'A Single Moment' and 'Purple' - have been published by Origami Poems Project. Her work has been nominated for the 2023 Best Spiritual Literature.