Thursday, January 5, 2012

The summer of 1978

It was..the summer of 1978


He took a broom
And wiped the floor
Looked at the kitchen
And swiped it once more

The telephone had rung-
Some Thursday night
Voices from offshore beamed
“I’m coming Pa”

Some leaves had fallen
On the pathway pristine
He picked up the broom and swept it clean

The bed was made up for the 100 th time
White and serene.
Two pillows lay side by side
Smug and clean

He paced the runway
Knowing not whom to expect
The son had grown
In photographs suspect

Suddenly emerged a young man anew
Just like a cocoon
With freshly, speckled dew
They shook hand like elders
And sat in a taxi,
“Do I know you?”
The silences screamed-

The bag in the centre..somehow seemed insurmountable
To fingers that itched to crawl over in welcoming
A son, apparently lost

Bathed and clean,
He swung into action
“Pa I shall be late, with friends I’m having luncheon”

Take a torch, a wrinkled hand offered
The lights are dim, and the roads are bad
The lad and his shoes
Stopped in their tracks
“Im 28, not 58, dad”

© 2012 Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury

11 comments:

Kunal said...

This is a fantastic one...depicting the distances between father and son...and the pain and aloofness...

P!yu said...

kept me hooked, you have explained the aura so beautifully...

http://cerebralrendezvous.blogspot.com/

Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury said...

Thanks Kunal & Piyu :)

Anonymous said...

A very nice post...

Harish said...

it feels sad, lonely and worst is the hint of humor that if you had laughed you'd feel guilty.

జ్యోతిర్మయి said...

Nice poem

Chapters From My Life said...

Hope more youngsters will read this.. Well written and so touching

Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury said...

Thanks so much everyone for reading & for your understanding..which is by far more precious.

Anonymous said...

You have this uncanny ability of striking a chord in us with your expressions and thoughts. Wonderful! - Kiran

Raj said...

Beautifully written. Heart-breaking but very true. How a son's world changes and how a father's world is always his child!

Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury said...

Thank you so much :)