In a patch of Deccan wetlands,
I see the cattails of my Hoosier youth.
Half a world away,
and nature grants me continuity
that culture can't provide.
I am transported to my youth
by a common landscape.
Indiana -- India,
names almost the same,
but ever so different...
except the cattails.
There was an old man from Indianapolis
who - about the big race - was passionless,
"it's far too many miles
goin' nowhere with style;
I wish I'd been born in Minneapolis!"