Of Flower Arrangements And Vows Poem by Gayathri Seetharam

Of Flower Arrangements AND vows
-Gayathri B. Seetharam
I thought a little sadly that back in the past,
In the early years of my married life,
I, with the slightly flawed academic side,
Wanted to be worthy of my more educated husband,
And had thus succeeded both in academia and the work world
For some time there and the feminist me looks back wistfully
On those days and longs for that acclaimed success again with money to back it up;

I look back on giving birth to my son
And, despite the considerable pain involved
For I had a caesarean after a 29 hour labour,
I felt a moment of bliss when I first beheld the baby;

Here's to you, Baby Pranav!
A flower arrangement to bring out the beautiful aspects of your baby years
He was innocent and soft and tender was our love for him
And he was an adorable baby
I say, a flower of innocence
And the internet suggests the flower Friday
And I say, a bright baby for he avoided his mother's "clunge"
And surely, an iris with its eye for detail and interest,
And as a soft baby, the bouquet must have a profusion of flowers
And now that you are all grown up and have a mischievous side,
And surely, you must have inherited both our passionate sides,
It must be wildflowers which must not be weeds growing in the garden
And since you are tall, and when well groomed, a handsome hunk,
I say a tiger lily with a white lily for the purity of your heart;

To celebrate my married life,
Which has had its ups and downs
And I hope that we have hit a plateau now,
I, for a couple of marital vows, look to Hollywood movies and TV shows
For having made the Christian wedding popular
And I take thee to be my lawful wedded husband,
Till death do us apart,
Must surely be an anthurium which is a fragile flower
And the colourful bottom has an upright extension,
The second vow, In sickness or in health,
Must be a bough and a flower,
For yesterday, I read in a poem by M. Travis Lane in The Walrus,
A stick or a bough saying:
"….I've had my green leaves and my bloom.
Now dry, I sense the pull
Of oceans I can't navigate
Nor can I choose one threaded flow
Among the rocks, muds, effluent…"
And to end this flower arrangement, I shall go to
The Hindu wedding, where the Saptapadi or Seven Steps,
As published by Wikipedia with some research and thinking for one word by me, says:
"We shall share love, share the same food, share our strengths, share the same tastes. We shall be of one mind, we shall observe the vows together. I shall be the Samaveda, you the Rigveda, I shall be the Upper World, you the Earth; I shall be the Happiness giver, you the Holder - together we shall live and beget children, and other riches; come thou, O sweet-worded girl! "
Of course, the flower arrangement must have
A plethora of beautiful, colourful flowers,
For there has been sunshine, happiness and laughter in our lives;

What shall a flower arrangement to symbolize me,
An engineer-writer-artist who am a feminist-feminine me
For I do believe in the little things, now that I am well once again,
That make up a woman
Like a love for cooking, baking and cleaning, and decorating
I have already said that yellow roses make up sunshine
And smiling flowers make up happiness
And laughter is a rainbow of colours
But then again, I did say yesterday morning,
That PM Justin Trudeau and some official sources
Have brought out the feminist me as a rainbow of colours
Surely, the Newton's spectrum would be beautiful
As a vivid array of colours
That would appeal to the palette of the artist in me and you.