Soul Sunday - Winter theme

Soul Sunday, our monthly poetry meeting saw shades of winter painted by poets of all age groups and from different cities. The meeting started at 11 am sharp and was hosted by Ananya Sarkar. We had thirteen poems present and each with their own interpretation of Winter.

For a few, it was nostalgic, for a few, it reminded them of pain and for a few, it was just laced with no memories but they quickly penned one listening to everyone's poems.

Here are a few poems presented today. Few more will be presented in the upcoming posts:

Winter in my village

colored with peace
engulfed in quilt, white
Where we were warm quite
And lived the season
And battled the breeze
Winter in my village
colored with peace

Winter in my village
colored with peace
rickety stable and
frost wet sheds
echoed the gale
The ever blue pond
Too turned pale
And even with mother's warmth
we and the colts, calf would sneeze


With hope of spring
white became yellow
the mustard bloomed
Summer will be soon
the piercing winter will cease
now only in memories
Winter in my village
is colored with peace


- Shekhar Jha, Pune


*

Winter is every evening for me

Winter comes once a year for everyone,
But for me, every evening is Winter,
knocking on my window pane:
The chill, the quietness, the loneliness,
and the darkness.

I rise up to warm myself with a sip of soup,
followed by a long walk.
I ring up a friend to have a talk,
to fill the void with a voice I can count on.

I read up a poem to inspire me
and reignite the poet in me.

Winter comes once a year for everyone,
But for me, every evening is Winter,
knocking on my window pane:
The chill, the quietness, the loneliness,
and the darkness

I light a diya to cast away the darkness.
I sing hymns in the praise of the lord.

I count my blessings to remember the sunny days
I ask Winter to visit me another day

- Divya Murarka, Hyderabad

*

Christmas Day

Cold morning, sleepy
With a coffee, I awake
The softness of the sun
Now my toast gets burnt
I sing to
the rhythm of the day

Everyone asks, if am okay

The perfume of the Christmas tree
The lights still alluring me
Like twinkly stars, shining
The night we're watching
My head on your shoulder
The fire we surround
And this feels like home somehow.


- D Suiam, Hyderabad

*

I never liked winters.

One winter,
I heard my parents discuss about admitting me to school.
But I wondered why can’t I just play a few more months in the pool?

Another winter,
My aunt asked me if I’m scoring good in my studies,
I had a blank face, as I was still struggling all the time to make buddies.

Some other winter,
My brother explained me what career path will help me grow,
But what I wanted for myself and what am I, I still didn’t know.

Nineteen such winters later I realized,
That the world was a really cold place to survive.
The best jackets couldn’t protect me,
And the shivering probably my parents could never see.

But I didn’t give up.

Right now, this is the twenty-fourth winter,
The past few have been really tough,
But I’ve already been trained to wade through the rough.
the cold breezes didn’t weaken me,
It cracked me up and brought out the real one for the world to see.
Now, I do what I want, I sleep when I want,
I am happy today
That I do what I love, and not worry about what I can’t.
I didn’t become another variable in this formulaic world,
I listened to my burning heart and my own self unfurled.
Because to tackle this winter you need to become the summer,
You need to find your own voice for you to conquer.

- NS Ranjan, Hyderabad