Poetry
Tiny Jeeya
by MICHELE GIBSON
The following poem is inspired by a recent attendance at a kirtan service where I found myself distracted by the innocence of tiny Jeeya Kaur - soon to graduate to the age of two!
Tiny Jeeya greets the adults from her mother's arms
Her plump little hands with palms together
Wide eyed, she studies the movement of their lips
‘Sat Sri Akal,' she will shyly venture
She hesitates at Babaji's room, a pious crowd around her
Her tiny toes brake into the sheets but she is coaxed through the door
Her chunni slides off her head and dangles from one arm
She is guided to her knees and rests her forehead on the floor
The adults sit, now she herself is level with their eyes
She is no taller than the resting scripture
She listens as they reveal the Word,
But she is focused on the vessel in the corner
Jeeya steps slowly toward the covered bowl
She tests the tenor of the room, the resolve of those within,
The harmonium bends and moans within her reach, she is not moved
The tabla drives the resolution of the hymn
She pleads with her eyes but they do not see
She reaches for the bowl but is whisked away
She waits, the giants rise, she is a flower in the forest
And they will not sway
Ardas, then Hukam, and she rushes to the bowl
Her tiny hands together shoot into the air
She has implored, beckoned and beseeched in silence
But one Bhai Sahib now sees her waiting there
Ahh ... Parshad!
June 4, 2009
Conversation about this article
1: Priya (Cambridge, England), June 04, 2009, 11:49 AM.
Wow! Michele, you present such a fresh look at ourselves! I look forward to your poems - and secretly pray that you will, one by one, visit the full gamut of Sikh experiences ... and share each of them with us. You are such a gift to us! Thank you.
2: Arvinder Singh Kang (Oxford, Mississippi, U.S.A.), June 04, 2009, 12:59 PM.
Beautiful observations and even more beautifully expressed. God bless you.
3: Dharamveer Singh (Mumbai, India), July 03, 2009, 4:04 PM.
I loved it ... She is so cute. I have a niece 8 months old and would love to see her doing something similar when she grows up. She does eat the parshad now too but isn't able to walk over to the bowl yet. Dear editor, is this really a poem? Whatever it is, I loved it ... the description was very good. [Editor: Yes, it is in the form of a poem.]