Poems | On Nature And Toronto

I. Divine Light Unleashes Inner Harmonies

Some moonscapes! Evoke the magic
of lost kingdoms!

In a Toronto sky
of topaz blue
    
streaked with thick
strips of virgin white,

hangs a full-faced 
moon 

over the
skyline: the

irregular 
silent
phantoms
looming nocturnally.

The orb 
renews its 
old being

gets reborn
every night;

washes 
the farm
and urban lands

in its milk 
of
tender light
 
softens 
contours and voids;

the doors open up
lead 
to the
luminous regions of 
solitude, on 
such
wonderous nights.

II. Inspiration From An Unlikely Realm

Running over the fences 
in the Brampton area,

a black squirrel, nut in 
the mouth, moves swiftly
over barriers.

Balances food with 
the
dexterity of 
a natural acrobat.

The tiny worker
delights
the young
immigrants 
from Punjab.

They
pause
take 
deep breath
 
resume walking
in the ankle-deep snow.

III. The Art of the Brown-Black Snow

The snow carries its own
field of energy and visual
patterns.

Fast and thick

solidity of different 
shades, forms
and mass;

gets
shovelled to clear
the sidewalks;

mini hills
of white 

freckled with
brown and black 
spots, a strange 
domain of
colours, 
vitality, 
aesthetics.

The iconic
countries of 

H. Avercamp, 
Gogh 
Monet

become 
alive

in diverse 
timelines

of viewing 
intersections.

IV. Anticipating Spring As A Strategy

The trees, bare-ribbed,
shiver as the homeless 
in the frigid air.

Mid-March but 
the winter refuses
to go, a 
patient-on-the-catheter, stubbornly 
clinging to life.

The snow-showers
a
haze of torn papers 
from 
the monochromatic sky.

A city
survives the gloom
of late winter, long, hard
and sad

imagines the 
joys, scents and sounds 
of a promised spring

delayed-delivery
due to
human actions.

(Toronto-based author-academic-editor, Sunil Sharma has published 23 creative and critical books, joint and solo. He edits the Setu journal)