Balasinor

BALASINOR

Poem by Eisha Sarkar

The high walls

The lush greens

A white palace

Built in 1883.

Nawabs and Begums

Those tales of the yore

Framed and preserved

Garden Palace, Balasinor.

A mounted leopard

Louis XIV chairs

Gold threads

Antique brasswares.

Collections, collectibles

Crystals, curios

Cutlery, cupboards

Cut-glass, candle-bras.

A diner’s delight

A Begum’s talent

A hearty meal:

Seekh and mutton.

The four-poster bed

Beckons me to rest

The AC’s cool air

Puts summer to test.

Then comes Aliya

The Princess Babi

Of Afghan heritage

And knowledge a-plenty.

In her hand

She holds an egg

No ordinary one

A dinosaur’s egg!

I watch her hold

Time in her hands

The Jurassic past

In stone and sand.

Starlings in the sky

As  gold turns red

The hourglass turns

I whisper, “Goodbye!”