A Land-Mark
once I’d set out
for a utopian land often appearing
as a real character in my childhood tales,
on the very occasion
my mother planted a Bodhi tree
she said, “When it grows, it’ll be a land mark
and it’ll guide you to recognize your home.”
I reached my destination
but forgot to go back
my old friends often send a message
“ In front of your old house
There’s a ‘Bodhi tree’
revealing the mystery of
life and death.”
I agree but I know
there’re many worlds
between my old and new affiliations
it’s difficult to turn back
and tread through these worlds
my mother never blames me
but she says, “My sapling didn’t turn
into a landmark
& my son couldn’t recognize his home.”
O.P. Jha’s works appeared in Rigorous, Mantis, You Might Need To Hear This, Punt Volat, Discretionary Love, In Parentheses, Shot Glass, Lothlorien Poetry, Kelp, The Cry Lounge, The Odessa Collective Magazine, Backchannels, Homer’s Odyssey, The Indian Literature, The Broken Teacup, Poetry Pacific, Five Fleas-Itchy Poetry, All Poetry, By the Beach, miniMag, Iceblink Literary Magazine, Infinite Scroll, The Rome Review, The Tiger Leaping Review, Aloka, Ghudsavar, Panorama, Gabby and Min’s Review and other journals. His poems (with other poets’ poems) appeared in anthologies We were Seeds (from Querencia Press) and We are Resilient (from Valiant Scribe).. He holds Ph.D. in “Translation Studies”. He’s authored a book, Management Guru Lord Krishna. X:@OPJha17
The Marbled Sigh 