Undying Love

‘A poem by the park’

My passion is now taking flight, my words now flap their wings

And leave behind the murmurs, and all the deafening noise

Atop the tree at a distant sight, the proud cuckoo sings, but

Nothing is more graceful than the resonance in your voice

“Come on now. We are sitting in a park. Get your head out from that book of yours. Get into the openness of the greens around.

Hear the birds chirping,

listen to the squirrels laughing,

feel the breeze blowing

and the sunset light flowing.

Whoa…! Now even I have become a poet… he..he..”. He turned his head up at the sweet sound of that innocent laugh and saw that beautiful childishness on her face. She had not changed a bit, always full of energy, so full of vigour and so full of… and the tennis ball slammed on top of his head.  “Take that”, she said. “Ouch… that hurt”, he moaned. Maybe he was too lost in his thoughts or maybe hers. Huh…these poetic minds sometimes think a lot. “Come on, let’s play”, she said. And he closed his book and joined in. Nothing could hinder him from watching and hearing her laugh.

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“Can you write about almost anything?”, asked she. She was referring to that ‘poem by the park’. “Well, it depends on the topic and the mood and flavour of the writer. Also, what we need is some divine inspiration from the sky to enlighten us and give us the strength to think and put those thoughts into words”, said he, teasingly. “Come on…don’t mock me now”, she frowned, “Okay, let’s give you some weird topic… mmm… Ah…. Okay… write something mentioning the crowd around us. Enchant me with those words now”, she said challenging him. Well, he couldn’t let down without a fight. Also, it was her challenge…he couldn’t let her down as well. He took out his pen and notebook which he always kept ready… and started. He thought, gazing at the sky, trying to find the hidden pearls of words from the greatest depths of his ocean of knowledge and he wrote, and the whole cycle continued for a while. And voila! He was ready with it. He presented it to her in the most poetic manner he could try to.

‘A poem in the crowd’

Your nature and grace and thoughts and vision, shower the path with light

Your company gives me strength and reason, to survive the darkest night

You never look back, always bold and smart and loud

All the hustle and bustle around but you stand out of the crowd

“Truly you enchant me. It would not be wrong to say you have the inspiration within you. I lack words of applause. Simply mesmerised”, she clapped and whistled and cheered. And he only blushed and smiled. He had never told her that she was his divine inspiration.

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Tick… tock... tick… tock... sounded the clock. But he could not sleep. He got up on his bed and started thinking, ‘All these writings are good. But how will I end this?’. He was thinking about her. The affection had grown over time and now he wished to convey his feelings for her. But shy as he was, he could not build up the courage to speak up directly. Finally, he decided to work out his talent… put it in a poem. He knew he had to be quick. Time was running out of his hand. He recalled the first poem he had written. Well actually, his first one was for her only, which had won him her affection and had become the starting point of this friendship.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

How I wonder what you are

The moon though not as bright as you

Is sitting here and you’re too far

Years had passed by but he could not resist smiling within. So today too, he imagined her sitting in front of him, smiling as graceful as ever. For a moment, he was lost in the depth of her eyes, the vastness of her heart, the tranquillity of her mind and the purity of her soul. He seemed to be lost forever.  And words started flowing out of his hands. And he did it. Short and simple. He thought in triumph,

‘Now, my love,

Tomorrow will be the day,

When my words will thus convey,

And fill my life with liveliness,

Like morning light of May’. 

He dressed up as best as he could. He was rushing, he knew the time was here. Finally, he would convey his feelings, his emotions, put forth his heart for his love. He picked up a bouquet of flowers on the way for her. She loved flowers, their smell, their touch, forever in bloom. The piece of paper, his destiny, was there in his pocket. ‘How would she react? What would she say?’ The times they spent together, the moments they shared, they memories they had, came flocking to him and only made him go faster towards his goal.

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He finally arrived. She was there – radiant as ever…oh! how beautiful she was…like an angel descended from heaven. He gasped… now, it was time. He put the flowers near her, took out that crumpled piece of paper and started reading. At first, the words did not come out of his mouth and he could only smile and sigh. But then he built up the confidence and spoke up. But only those first three words could he speak… the first three words of the ending lines of his love saga, “Fare Thee Well…”, the only words which he could speak all those years ago, before that last breath of air gushed out of her…

And the memory of that day came back to him, the day he had rushed to get to her to tell her everything, to confide in her, to confess his love. She was there - beautiful, smiling and radiant, like an angel descended from heaven. He took out that piece of paper and started reading… but could only smile at first… and she smiled too, for she knew what was coming for her. He started reading but only those three words came out before she actually became an angel of heaven. She had gone, succumbed to the incurable disease, but with a rosy smile on her lips and crystal tears of content in her eyes, that someone was there for her all this time, living her final days with her, making them meaningful… And tears started building up inside him and soaked that paper wet.

I wanted to be cheerful

But had the greatest fears

And now you left my heart to sob

And drown in the bloody tears

And he cried. He cried and cried and cried… but that smile of hers was too lovely to be cried for, it was to be captured, memorised and remembered forever… and till this day he rushed up with a bouquet of flowers to her… her grave, and tried to recite his saga before her. But he could never go further. Sighing and wiping his tears, he put that crumpled piece of paper back in his pocket and went back onto his daily life. Oh! how much he wished for that one moment when he could have told her everything, recited those last lines… of his Undying Love.

Fare Thee Well, O Love! Though naive it may be

I finally convey, my feeling of ecstasy

For God himself proclaims, this golden prophecy

I am here for you forever, and you are here for me.