GIFTING

O viola, 
go over the grapes 
and find an ageless green. 

It is difficult 
to be born 
again, undoing death. 

You swoon 
at the continuity 
of crossroads – 

with blue flags 
in your bowl. 
A rosette, 

without a winner. 
A birthday gift 
for all the failures. 

At seventy five 
you walk over a prairie 
to find a shade.

Satish Verma