Darjeeling: Tea Gardens at Dawn
Walking through the tea gardens
in the cool of the morning,
above loom the mountain peaks,
Green leaved tea bushes
wash against the skyline,
waiting to be picked.
Bright dots of colour,
the pickers are scattered,
on their heads, conical hats
of neatly plaited straw.
On their backs baskets
bags, full of loose leaves.
Behind the tea gardens,
like a scene from
a Bollywood romance,
rise the five peaks of
the mighty Kanchenjunga,
mysterious, snowcapped
sacred, home to
a fearful mountain monster.
Drift through the valleys.
In the East, a pale, orange
banner waves across
the lightening sky.
Ghosts of the Raj
linger among the hills,
lie in the churchyards,
dreaming of sipping tea
beneath Indian skies.
Sarah Das Gupta is a writer from Cambridge, UK who has lived and taught in India, Tanzania and UK. She began writing aged 80, after a disabling accident. She has recently been nominated for Best of the Net, the Pushcart and a Dwarf Star.