"The Pentafleur" by Vikram Grewal

-
Today, 29th June, on the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Seychelles, here is 'The Pentafleur' - an acrostic and concrete poem resembling the Seychelles Flag with its five glorious colours.


'The Penta-fleur' 

Behold our flower of five fluttering!
Listen to it rise across the shores, 
Unfurling in its full glory above   
Earth of you and me below. 

Young and old sniff its petals,  
Embracing its stem - the toddler
Lifting from the soil that made us.
Lay on the grass holding hands 
Oh, all my brothers and sisters!
Watch the flag beneath our sky.

Rise together towards the dream,
Eschewing the unjust and the other 
Divisions dissolve into pollen.

We, the people, the persistent!
Heads high in clouds of peace.
Inequality melts off the petals–  
The toddler smiles gazing
Everyone reaching the banner.

Gust of wind kisses faces of humanity. 
“Race against race,” it reminds
Each soul holding the pole.
Eyes well up as we form a bouquet:
“Now we wake and walk!” 

-

V
I
K
R
A
M

G
R
E
W
A
L

Comments

Dibakar Biswas said…
Not gonna lie, but I feel after reading your all recent poems, feel like Sukumar Ray was written all those poems, very deep yet so playfully with "English" words.
June 29, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"ESSAY KAISE? " by Vikram Grewal AIR 51 UPSC CSE 2018

-
Image
'Brevity is the soul of wit,' they say. UPSC loves brevity. And if you can pour a little wit in it, their day is made. Before we delve into the ESSAY paper for Civil Services Exam, I would just like to point out that this article is going to be brief. I won't really instruct or implore you to follow any guidelines or apply any 'tips and tricks', my dear friend. *Because essay is a matter of the heart and mind. And every pair is as beautiful and insightful. So we'll talk about the 'soul' instead. (*Note: never start a sentence with 'because'- a teacher once told me.) (**Also note: question all advice- nothing is sacred. THIS PAPER gives you room to experiment.)    I scored 161 Marks in Essay this year. Although I respect the fact that without these marks my rank would've been 'not-so-good', yet I view it as a considerably minor issue when compared to the amount of fun I had while writing those 2 essays. (Or in fact most o...
Read more

The Complete UPSC Mains Notes Omnibus of Vikram Grewal (AIR 51)

-
Here I present to you the result of my efforts at making notes for Mains 2018. They are quite crisp and laden with Keywords. I have treated all GS papers as one comprehensive paper. Also, I have adopted a strictly 'One issue, One page' policy to enhance the effectiveness of answer writing. Apologies in advance if you find them unorganized or don't like my handwriting (or both). But well, that's how dynamic things are nowadays. What to do, dear friend? What to do!  Best wishes, V.G. There is an INDEX attached below- to scroll to specific topics. INDEX (Page no. ---- Topic) 3...Office of Governor 4...National Food Security Act (2013) 5...Solid Waste Management 6...List of National Policies      ...Double Burden of Nutrition 7...IBC amendments 8...Payment of Gratuity Amendments      ...Caste 9...Violence Against Women 10...Social Media Menace     ...Plastic Pollution 11...Lateral Entry in Bureaucracy 12...Problem ...
Read more