KAMLA’S RIVER

POEM        

Kamla in the sunset of her life

sits on the river bank

looking sadly at the river

which is fast drying up

due to the searing summer sun

since a few months.

Kamla whose two daughters

are seen talking to each other

just in front of their home

sometimes smiling, sometimes laughing

aloud, sometimes pondering over something  seriously

who have come on vacation from abroad

with their husbands and children to celebrate the fast approaching

approaching festival with their mother,

father already bid farewell to heaven.

Kamla, taking bath in

the twilight memorizing

her yesteryears as a child

teenager and grown up lady

when the river was pregnant

with dark green water flowing quietly

quietly, yes, but it is deceptive calm on the surface.

While the surface remained calm,

she was aware of strong and speedy under currents.

Kamla still reminisces her early days

When she learned swimming

and occasionally swam across the river

and reached the other bank

of the wide river competing with

her friends and enjoyed it.

Then the two riverbanks

were ‘embellished’ with thick mangrove forests

leaning over the river.

She still recollects those

days when fishermen

rowing their boats who

frequently produced peculiar loud voices in the mornings

for the people living

on both sides of the river to attract them

and purchase fresh fish.

Kamla, clad in her jacket

and blouse would rush to

the riverside just in front of her home

and beckoned the fishermen to come to her

rowing the boat with the fish inside it.

Those were happy, memorable

days in her life which

she never forgets till she breathes her last.

The mangrove forests are

gone, the once flowing river to the brim is fast drying up

forcing Kamla to heave repeated sighs.

Even with the onset of monsoon

that old river won’t turn up once more

she knows deep inside her heart

which pushes her into the deep pit of sadness.

Kamla, once a burly, tall and cute lady

has cleared the path for snow-white hair

and skinny body with wrinkles remaining prominent.

With the twilight vanishing

and darkness like a pall of gloom descending down

Kamla sits oblivious of

all movements going

on around her until her daughters

reaching her, awakening her

and pleading with her

to go back to the home………..