Memories

I’m in the spice market, looking all around,

Taking in colours very vibrant you’ll agree,

Breathing in deeply, inhaling the rich air,

A smell that brings back memories to me.

 

I remember that feeling,

The excitement, the anticipation,

Packing last minute stuff,

About to be part of another nation.

 

2 a.m. and I’m up and about,

Patting my dog, giving Grandpa one last hug,

Get into a taxi, by bag on my lap,

Cuddle next to mama, warm and snug.

 

Next thing I know, I’m in the plane,

My friends now seem a faraway dream.

An air hostess brings us breakfast,

Just strawberries and cream.

 

Landed and walked round the air port,

Trying to find our way out,

Looking for a taxi to take us to our hotel,

When Dad gave me a shout.

 

He told me to blow into the air,

I did and it came out as a dainty mist.

I look up to watch a British flag waving in the breeze,

So majestic the sight, a smile’s hard to resist.

 

Dad had managed, a taxi to hail,

He loaded in our luggage and Mama bundled us in.

My brother soon falls asleep, lolling on my shoulder,

While I looked out the window, into a world I’ve ne’er been.

 

The snow drifting down lazily,

A hockey stadium flooded with light,

No garbage just piled on the roadside,

No drunkards, looking ready to fight.

 

The next morning, Mama and me,

We went to the vegetable market outside our hotel,

The snow crisp beneath our feet,

Food caravans emitting a heavenly smell.

 

The birds coming down and chirping at us,

The sky as blue as it could ever be,

Happiness welling up inside, I feel likely to burst,

So I erupt into song, joyfully.

 

The peppers and chillies and tomatoes,

Such beautiful, pretty colours,

And though people buy loads of stuff,

There’s always more for the others.

 

Soon we shift to our new home,

Our parents start work; we start our new schools,

Being the best and being outstanding,

Being fun but following all the rules.

 

Soon I’m fifteen and go into photography,

And my topic, I did pick,

It says I have to visit the spice market,

Where my pictures for the exam I’ll click.

 

 

So I drive up there and get out the car,

And everything there so bright, it’s true,

From the vendors and the customers,

To the downright hues.

 

As I looked around the place,

Something tugged at me inside,

I was filled with a sudden longing,

A feeling I thought had died.

 

All the chaos, the mess, the diversity,

Brings back the past like a whisper,

That day I went to the vegetable market all those years back,

And more, of Grandpa and Grandma, and home, a place so familiar.

 

The pain in my chest gets stronger,

An agony, oh so hard to tame,

But I look up at the blue, blue sky and I know,

That someday, I’ll visit the land from where I came.

 

But for now I’m in the spice market, looking around,

Taking in colours very vibrant you’ll agree,

Breathing in deeply, inhaling the rich air,

A smell that brings back memories to me.

THE END