The day our hero saw the land,
I was christened – sultana of sand

Other queens, three in all
Were torn and thrown, for matter small

When in a noisy game of poker
A drunkard player took them for joker

Said his fellows; now at their surliest
“We are playing poker, poker's no jest!”

And so a way to land he was shown,
Like cards before him, into the sea he was thrown

Through his clothes, when water tore
He saw his peril, his stupor wore

He swam madly for an hour
On that night of tempest, shower

Fatigue, delusions, hallucinations
He saw mermaids, their apparitions

He started when one of them told
You’re lucky – a queen of spade you hold!

At first, (startled) he could not believe
A mermaid knew, I hid in his sleeve!

He swam and swam with lot of gumption
“I’ll see land soon” – his only assumption

The mermaids laughed, the sea dissolved
In his head his world revolved

Just then a lucky, giant wave bore
Our man all the way to the shore!

Minutes later, when dawn came
Birds of prey eyed their game

On his eyes when sunbeams fell,
Fatigue broke its cruel spell

His marvelous escape he didn’t realize
“Our vessel was fine, it didn’t capsize!?”

Then as he looked at sea from land
He recalled his ordeal at first hand!

He smiled, stood up and began to plod
Through the wet sand, the sandy clod

He took me out, and said this
“thank you lady, you deserve a kiss”

That moment on we parted ways
“He is a king”, the world now says

“I too am a queen” or so I tell them
Better here, than inside his harem

Did the picture lead to the poem or the other way round?

By  Anonymous, at 30.5.05  

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The picture definitely. My first remark at seeing it at a beach in Vizag was - रेत की रानी! (Sultana of Sand)

The poem took its own sweet time to brew and came out in a burst of creativity last night. It still has its rough edges that I would like to clean up - may be once - as a friend suggests - I put together an anthology :)

By  Deepak, at 30.5.05  

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:-) Cute, evocative and a very nice lyrical poem...weaves a story beautifully

By  G Shrivastava, at 30.5.05  

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You really observe!

By  sajith, at 30.5.05  

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Hum Khush Hain Ki Aap ki
Duniya Aabaad Hain,
Raaste Par Hi Sahi
Hum Aazad Hain!
your title ret ki rani gave raise to this....
-Swarna

By  Anonymous, at 30.5.05  

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That was an awesome piece!

By  Ashwin, at 3.6.05  

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Thanks Anonymous, Smyta and Ash!

By  Deepak, at 7.6.05  

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I love this, Deepak. Thanks

By  granny p, at 10.6.05  

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It's usually the Ace of Spades and the Queen of Hearts. But Queen of Spades is okay too, poetic license I guess :-)

By  Anonymous, at 16.6.05  

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now this i really really like !

By  Sreekesh Menon, at 17.6.05  

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Thanks Granny!

Poetic license indeed Nish - but let's treat other queens fairly too!

Thanks Sreekesh!

By  Deepak, at 18.6.05  

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