By: Zunayet Ahammed

I beheld you here last evening
In an autumn dress full of juice
Like white clouds of the sky
To chuckle at me quietly
Like a girl of 17 who feels woozy
Looking inside and outside
Not thinking of others.

Sweet days, sweet moments and sweet dreams of life
Like the rosy hue of a lovely lady’s check wither away
Silently as time passes
Nothing to be hidden the way we can’t hide our age
Nothing remains forever
Our childhood disappears
Touchy–feely experiences to be lost
Roaming around the country
For sucking its milk pleasurably
Now is oblivion.
Sounds of rivers
Songs of birds
Mirth of hovering skylarks
High in the sky
Light of the firefly in darkness
Drone of the cricket after the dusk on my way home
Beauty of a lovely rose hidden behind leaves
Naughty waves of wind in our paddy field
Bliss of catching fish in my grandmother’s pond
The gladness of eating cucumbers at Rahela’s garden at noon
All were celestial but now are lost
Where are those charming days?

Now I dwell in a Mega city
I wake quickly to sunshine pouring to my window
Many a sleepless night we’ve to pass here
Too boring traffic jams
The hustle and bustle of the city
Always make our life awfully weary and exhausted
Here our life is burdened with lot more unpleasant things
Symphony of happiness is full of thorns
Demons are busy intriguing us
Flowers of mind lose its fragrance
Trees its green
Rivers its murmuring good looks
Birds missing the blue of the sky
Poetry its rhyme
Caring girls their innocence
There is no pleasure here
Except abduction, disappearance, hijacking, killing and violence
Life lames here
Like frail buses
Yet man dreams of the rains,
Welcomes spring
To flower in zero.

Is there any delight to stand on darkness
Brooding over the sweet memories of our childhood?

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Zunayet Ahammed is Assistant Professor & In Charge, Department of English, Northern University Bangladesh.