Part I – Saki Poems
Geethanjali Dilip particularly enjoys writing Saki poems where she imagines Lord Krishna to be the cupbearer, expressing her angst in samsara, the cycle of birth and death, and beseeching Lord Krishna, her Ishtaa (personal deity), to liberate her from the same.
1. SOMA
Your chalice that fits my perfectly cupped hands.
Made of jade, alabaster, agate from faraway lands.
I see you watch my ivory fingers clasping it, lean and delicate.
And I see your brow in a quiver, fret and sweat.
Saki, you’ve known me now for births, each time I died.
You poured your elixir, the soma of longing, when I’ve cried.
This time, drink from me the pain I bear.
Me, the goblet of flesh and bones, I dare you.
You who knows to ease my sorrow across the counter,
Know what pain is in your perfectly lit tavern; see my veil flutter.
The dusk caresses my visage to a rosy flush.
Today, offer me no wine, but on my cheeks, bring on that blush.
2. VAT
Neither the moon nor the stars,
Nor the green nor the springtime flowers,
Nor the song of the cuckoo in the summer rain,
Can take away the scar that masks a pain.
Of a memory that haunts like a November breeze,
Kindling the mind to taunt and tease,
But you, oh Saki, will pour your understanding,
Into this empty soul that remains pining.
Of past lives that could never be undone,
When time and destiny succumbed to the Sun.
Now I’m an earthen pot parched for a drop,
Having depleted my tears, their flow does stop,
Having lost the way homewards now in your tavern,
My hands outstretched, beseeching you, my lamp to burn.
Only this time, my faith in you is the fuel.
I ask, Saki, on this soil, tilt that vat a little more, not a big task,
My eyes lowered in gratitude to your benevolence,
I am shunning my every mask in your comforting presence.
3. YOUR TIME STARTS NOW, SAKI
Yes, I’m back again.
I know that look, but don’t say a word.
My rage may appease.
No, no, not even an expression.
Sport your poker face, as always, and pour me a stiff one.
The moon stares at my wanton spirit, saying I don’t keep my promises.
No, I don’t.
Not when demons are on the loose, and friends fly high.
I cannot combat shadows anymore.
I’m here…
No… not on the rocks.
Just your elixir that brings a smile to every stranger’s face!
That which you have named Amar, Amor, Amour.
Whatever!
It’s that heart-shaped bottle on the first rack with the sanguine color of universal blood!
Exactly!
A tall one, too.
I’m crashing here when I cannot see you or me or reason anymore!
Leave the lights on, please, when that happens!
Saki!
“They also serve who stand and wait.”
Whatever!
I cannot anymore!
Your time starts now!
4. PURPLE BLOOD
Will you take me grape picking sometime when the sky turns purple and amethyst in its wake?
Do I understand the skin of these delectable bunches in your vineyard, Saki?
Further down, deep inside, a nectar drips, never satiable in its yearning!
Should I wear my favorite deep purple chiffon that drapes my transparency?
To blend in with the cluster of intoxicated souls who are really not tasting your wine, but mostly the intoxication of being inebriated.
Won’t you answer me?
Yet, I’m supposed to understand, for grape picking involves the stomping too and the preserving and fermenting!
All of your seasoned wine flavors my birth.
And here I am, a cask aging in your tavern.
Just put your sweetness in me, beloved Saki.
The color will tint itself with my realization that you bottle me in my capacity to age gracefully.
You wizard, sorcerer, and alchemist of purple blood! Stir my soul.
5. AMNESIA
Not once have you questioned my drunkenness, Saki!
Don’t you want to know my story?
Whether it tells a tale of sadness, happiness, pain, or celebration!
All you do is fill my cup!
With just your understanding that I need to supersede time, space, and consciousness!
And your tavern is my gateway to amnesia.
How you let me fool myself…
One can never forget…
Not even with your wine.
One can only transcend.
Cheers to that!
That which you have named Amar, Amor, Amour. Whatever!”
Part II
From: Hey Ishtaa (Beloved) section of Rosée book
‘Hey Ishtaa’ is a collection of Geethanjali’s poems addressed to Shri Krishna, the poet’s favorite divine entity, or in other words, her Ishtaa, or beloved, through monologues. The poems echo the Sakha (friend) bhava (expression) as well as, at times, Madhura (beloved) bhava.
The poet writes as if it were her prerogative to make Him listen to her as her confidant, in a mood of both surrender and deep love for the Almighty.
1. EMPTY ME COMPLETELY
So much so that I’m a dry bone
Then just drench me with your name, your blue, endless void
I am just thirsty, as you are well aware
I’m a dry well, Ishtaa
Fill me up as you pour your nectar on me
And tell me it was worth being a desert
For how else would I know that I am ready to receive you?
Then let me flow blue, green, red, brown, grey
to where you’ve left the salt of life
There, will I drown, losing myself in your name
Drunk on the madness of inebriation, I will become a cloud all over again.
2. MAAYAA
Hey Ishtaa, is there some cure for my angst?
Other than just muttering your name like the wind that rattled my window?
For wine that you push to keep the lost souls like me intoxicated in this Maayaa, is nothing compared to the nectar of your name.
Let me listen to your breath through this conch shell.
Part III
The Roseate Sonnet as a form was created by Dr. A.V. Koshy. “The rules are as follows: the sonnet must have two quatrains first, followed by a couplet and then by a last quatrain that starts the first line with an R, the second with an O, the third with an S, and the fourth with an E to form an acrostic that reads ‘R-O-S-E’.
The rose in the sonnet can be seen as a random conjunction in keeping with postmodernism that both gives it order and brings in an element of chaos, whether love, beauty, religiosity, spirituality, divinity, mysticism, sexuality, or sensuality is the subject matter of the sonnet itself.
1. ROSEATE TWILIGHT
In this sphere bubble where we float beyond human logic,
When the twilight shimmers, a star-studded expansive relic,
And we think the moon talks to us, the protagonists of an epic,
Let’s gaze with eyes shut, holding hands in psychedelic clouds.
In a perfect world that exists, saying love is only a chemistry,
And those feelings, emotions, and sentiments are but history,
Where every dialogue exchanged between souls is poetry,
Let’s write the lyrics of a song, keeping our magic a mystery.
At a time when time is money and money is time, mistakenly precious,
Shall we travel astrally, transcending orbits, binding distances, and pretenses?
Roseate is the evening, my beloved, tingling my visage; this moment pristine,
Over the moon do I soar as you gaze into my eyes, sunset flush incarnadine,
Silences in our eyes louder than tide’s gush to a moon nectarine, wells of brine,
Eternally, your life after life, let us make our every breath a hymn for Valentine.
The following poem was written for the Significant League Nation Poetry Writing in 2025-2026.
2. THE ENIGMA
I don’t know why, and I don’t try to understand.
As tears stream down like motes that crisply land,
Where words worm their way silting in briny sand,
Drowning silently beyond control, emotion manned.
Street lights bleed colours as a twilight quietly sighs,
Etching lines as light scratches water in a pond that cries,
As if Monet and Van Gogh painted with their teary eyes,
Sinking verses in stillness as my muse mutely lies.
Ishtaa, I see you sit on a rock painting in the air your lines,
But somehow, they come out as dulcet notes from your breath as melancholy its tune defines.
Roseate dusk mingles with black ink in a man-made pond,
Onyx and agate melted in my vision as reality dawned,
Soaking thoughts that struggle to surface, unfurling in a frond,
Etching your story and mine on peepal leaves that a sonnet spawned.
Some poems featured in this collection are from Geethanjali Dilip’s anthology, ‘Rosée: The Dewdrop’ (2023), which is available on Amazon.in/ https://amzn.in/d/0cQbLUKo
Usha Akella
The editor of this article, Usha Akella, has authored 12 books that include poetry and two musical dramas. She was a finalist for Austin’s poet laureate in 2025. Three of her books are translated into Spanish, Romanian, and Macedonian. She holds an MSt in creative writing from the University of Cambridge, UK. She is the founder of Matwaala (www.matwaala.com), launched in 2015 to amplify diaspora South Asian poets. She has participated in several international poetry festivals and has been published in 150 literary journals and anthologies.
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