By: Chandra Shekhar Dubey

Setting my sights on unknown heights
Unable to map out a route to my destination,
I lost my way to an unknown territory.
The trees were young and green loaded
with spring blossom and green canopies,
Luring me to the charms of a forbidden territory.
I stayed there for a while drenched in its wilderness,
Driven to an unknown destination
without fear of getting lost in its mazy whirls.
The land was fertile with promises of abundance,
And it held me in its sprawling arms
intoxicating me with –
Music of whispering leaves, crickets,
and chimes of dangling twigs.
My days were filled with sunshine and joys of plenty
Nights were filled with exotic memories and loving dreams.
I stayed there becalmed and bemused
unware of what lies ahead.
I loved it, lived it and began to call it my own
and built a cottage over the hedge and a row of vines
around three stones where I stood by the night
to see the moon haunted by the patches of clouds.
Days rolled on spreading over fragrance of wild periphery,
Blending memories with desires and stubborn will to hold it
in my every breath unknown of my destiny.
Fed on the stories of forest, its deceptive lures and tricks
And many stories spinning in my head
warning me against deadly trap
Could never consume my spirit
as if I have already heard it many times
And my heart told me there are other worlds
beyond this world but my faith made my movements
communing with this universe.
Days moved on-
till one day a wild storm ravaged my cottage
Storming down the trees and desecrating my dreams.
It took some time to know, the chaotic swings and relics of storm.
And suddenly startled, I awoke from deep slumber
As if rising from the nightmarish dream,
shivering and sweating with ,
as I would jump into my grandma’s bed in my childhood
with tremors in my head and chill in my spine.
Recollecting my dream,
Now, I know, it was a no man’s land.