Poems by Padmaja Battani

A Saga of Silence

Padmaja Battani

Published on
page 30 of Tarot #5
(Dec 2022)

Moments of silence flow
Into hours, days, months, and years

Sometimes I am muted involuntarily
Sometimes my words are

Transformed into tranquility willingly
Sometimes my yearning to shout out

Dies on a deaf heart
Sometimes I am not sure

Whether I deserve to talk
Most of times my words form

Wings and fly away to distant lands
And yet

No one ever recognizes my silence
None persuades for my words

Dreams know no dying

Padmaja Battani

Published on
page 46 of Tarot #5
(Dec 2022)

Every night I kill my dreams
Strangle all aspirations
Convince my heart that
I do not deserve them
Prepare to pick worldly ways

Every morning I wake up
To see saplings rising
From floundered dreams
Sprigs flourishing
From flogged hopes
Beaming and eager to bloom

Shades of Resilience

Padmaja Battani

Published on
page 47 of Tarot #5
(Dec 2022)

Draping the pink saree
She looked into the mirror
Among the silk moulds of pink
She felt quite imperceptible

She chose a red saree first
Then mother said
‘It’s too flashy, let’s
Go for a pink one’

That night she drew a troop of girls
Dancing under moonlit sky
All in bright coloured robes

The red and orange hues
Shimmering on their dark faces
Their smiles contending moonshine