Didn't reap
Didn't ripen

fed it an elephant diet,
stayed guard all night,
pray-bribed the rain gods,
plotted insect genocides,
sold my wife’s bangles

Didn't reap
Didn't ripen

once where were lush fields,
now the coming of concrete

Didn't reap
Didn't ripen

the seasons are unfaithful,
there is no spring songbird

Didn't reap
Didn't ripen

It's that time of the year again,
There are jasmine buds
Inside my pocket
And I walk my yard
With ink stains on fingers.
At a distance
I see you and take refuge
In your love
The hooting breeze
Walk my door, but
When I sit to write
Love poems, there
Are only bald-chested hills
And ghosts of dead farmers
Grazing my eyes
What should I write to you?