Tree

by Jagannath Rao Adukuri

A girl of woman called from the mind of a child
Beyond hay stacks on horizon rising like temples
Mounds of golden straw for making little houses,
And soft cud for ruminating cows in moonlight .
Tall palms stood in lines on paddy field hedges.
A river snake slithered in the dry plains of gold.

I ask where is girl, body and mind, minus body.
When the mind merely existed the body laughed
Now there is only laughter with no laughing body
Now girl shall be a tree that will do the laughing
Whenever there is a gentle breeze from the sea.