The Return

Another quiet night passes by
as we wait.
Three for us,
One for you, (we still keep).
And
"Cheers"! ...miss the loud voice.
Someone gulps your absence down.
In a trance we believe you were here.
We sleep to forget.

Vodkas and grass lie with green hopes.

In half jaded senses,
when we go for our walk,
there have hardly been mornings
when Ravi hasn't forgot his chappals,
and Maddy his pullovers...

But never did we miss to touch the gulmohar
you so loved to sit beneath.

Is this what it feels to be feeling you?

We don't go there in winters.

Time is sarcastic.
You can't skip if you wish.
We gather for your birthday.
Maddy whistles, Ravi prays,
I keep mum.
Whether to celebrate or to miss?
Silence is so nauseating at times.

We blow the candles.
Darkness is comforting, we realize.

Three windy lives,
you as the only exception, wait,
as summers and autumns and springs cycle
and even hopes attract rust.

Then one day,
You come back.

Unlike the happy endings in tight embrace,
we shout, " why did you?".
The voices echo from and to
as our emotions fly, orphaned to excitement.

That day, On a less travelled road,
Three white flowers lay together.

You return,
to us.

SoUmY@