Magic Mirror

As I stared into the depths of the magic mirror, I saw an elaborate illusion slowly forming through the swirling misty arabesque. A stone castle with tall towers, turrets, and waving red flags filled the magical mirror. Bright green ivy snaked up the walls of the castle. The sturdy wooden drawbridge with its taut, strong rope was open, stretching across the churning waters of the moat. In the moat, a scaly green tail occasionally curled out of the water, and unblinking yellow eyes stared around the castle grounds, boring into my eyes. The colorful castle gardens surrounded the majestic fort, with white, red, yellow, blue, and pink flowers bursting into bloom before my very eyes. Giant stone fountains in different shapes were randomly placed around the flowers. The sunlight streamed through the sparkling water of the fountains, forming a hazy rainbow. Knights in shining chain mail constantly walked around the castle grounds, patrolling for any dangers.

I blinked my eyes, and the illusion vanished. I found myself staring at a polished glass mirror with a pearly frame. I stared back at my own reflection, and wondered if I would ever see the magnificent castle again.

Alaska Cruise

I recently went on an one-week Alaska cruise to visit the northernmost part of the United States of America. The cruise ship was very large and elegant, and the nature scenery in Alaska itself was quite nice, although the civilization there was quite old-fashioned and clearly behind in technology.

To see some pictures from the cruise, you can go to my website, www.priyaganesan.com.
Click on "Photo Gallery", then "August 2008 Alaska Cruise Photos" on the left side.

The Baskets

I apologize for not writing sooner; I have been a bit busy.

Here's a poem I wrote recently. I sat down and just started writing it with no sense of idea in my head- I let the poem carry me and look how it has turned out!

I sat upon a rocking chair
With two baskets at my feet
One was overflowing and full of mess;
The other one was quite neat.

The messy one was painted red
The neat one painted blue
The first one was covered with tape all over
The second with homemade glue.

I picked up the first basket
I undid the red tape
What did I find inside?
One rotten, sour grape.

I threw the grape into the fire
Dropped the red basket on the floor
But suddenly through the night I heard
A frantic knock at the door.

A tall wizard came in
He said, “I’m looking for a grape.”
“I believe it was in a basket-
All covered with red tape.”

“I’m afraid I threw it in the fire,” I said
“Just before you came.”
“But you can have the blue basket-
I daresay they’re quite the same.”

The wizard glanced at the blue basket in doubt
For it appears to be nothing like the red
He looked at me, I looked at him
And told him to go ahead.

He picked up the blue basket
He scraped off the homemade glue
Then he peered inside and gasped in wonder
For what I said was quite true.

He clasped the basket to his chest
And did a little twirl in joy
Because inside the neat blue basket were
Two rotten, sour grapes to enjoy.