Ja Ja - Jasmine!!

I waited all day long

on humid summer evenings

To run to the fields

with kids from the rice mill

To pluck some

and some and some more

of the tiny white bulbs

Curling up our frocks and skirts

into balls tiny

till our waists

I did sneak

slowly from the group

to grab one Sampangi

for grandma to keep

under her neatly starched

pile of Sarees

I was startled with

sirens of danger

"Don't get there..

snakes will come"

We hear the farmers yell,

"Who's there?"

We ran...ran amid narrow lanes

and old brick houses

ran till we fell on our knees

panting....

We dumped them on

the cold black floor

of grandma's verandah

and counted

who plucked the most

Grandma made a string

longer and heavier

than my ponytail

The glee on my face

was never amiss

I lay on the wired cot

breathing the jasmine filled air

counting the stars on

glistened nights

After twenty seven years,

when I look at my pot of jasmine plant

seven seas away

I want to run...

run to those fields,

wiping my brow,

plucking jasmine galore

on humid summer evenings!!

Image Courtesy: Here

P.S: As I had been sick and not in a position to think; I was scratching my head on what to write with J; I call my son and say, hey!! I need to write with J...gimme ideas...he blurts out: J for Jasmine and runs away to play. Bingo!! Here's the post. 
Just realised this is my 100th post.