THE ETERNAL OPTIMISTS

                                                                            
                                                                                 XXV

I always have liked growing things,
So now with more time on hand
I thought I'd take an allotment
And join the little band...

Of optimistic masochists
Who, in all weathers can be found
Trying to wrest a harvest
From the reluctant ground.

Either it's too cold and wet
So that the seeds all rot,
Or else your struggling seedings die
Because it is too hot.

But gardeners as a race
Are notoriously hard to please,
Some want it sunny for their strawberries
Some want it wet for their peas.

We have some fair weather gardeners
Who come out with the flowers of spring,
Plant their beans and tomatoes
And vanish when the swallows take wing.

For any allotment gardener
An optimistic nature is a must
To cope with slugs and codling moth,
Mildew -  mould and rust;

Snails - rabbits - caterpillars
And flies - green, black and white,
Birds - moles - foxes
And various types of blight.

You think you will save money
When you have a bumper crop,
Then as your yield increases
Shop prices start to drop.

But when you eat a ripe strawberry,
Warm from the sun's morning kiss,
You realise that in no supermarket
Can you buy flavour like this.


November 1994

I DON'T KNOW IF I'VE TOLD YOU .....

                                                                              XXIV

As the years go by I've developed
A tendency to repeat
Comments, ideas, annecdotes -
But I'm still discreet.

Even though a warning voice
Whispers in my ear
That my captive listener
Does not want to hear.....

The same old story from my past
That I've told her before,
I ignore the little voice
And go through it once more.

Even if she gently murmers:
"Oh yes, you did say ...."
I've started so I'll finish
Before she gets away.

I too have endured repetition,
So I know it can be a bore
Listening to a story
You've heard many times before.

So why do I still do it?
I just wish I knew;
But if I should ever
Repeat myself to you...

Tell me very firmly
You don't want to hear it again -
And when you repeat yourself
I will do the same!



July 1993

I BELONG TO TWO DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

                                                                              XXIII


People who move to another country
Often don't belong in either place.
|I am very fortunate because
For me the opposite is the case.

I left the land where I was born
When I was twenty-one.
The English and their weather seemed cold
Compared to India's warmth and sun.

But - after forty years
I appreciate English life
The many opportunities it offers
Without too much stress and strife.

The English, when you get to know them,
Are a kind and tolerant race ,
And I couldn't live anywhere else -
I love this green and pleasant place.

But, when I return to India -
Specially if I go on my own
I feel as if I've never left -
How fast the years have flown...

So I can call two countries 'home'
And in both I feel I belong -
Walking in a cool green woodland glade
Or through Bombay's bustling throng.

Written September 1994
revised 2004 and 2011