This poem became SPIXer (Most popular) on 30 Mar 2013 and won INR 500 (US$ 10)
Under the lavender tree we stood
A wrinkled face you looked, mine.
Your heart got hooked, it seemed
“When were you born?” you asked.
I, then, took a travel down my
memory lane, re-lived the day
when I, the chubby girl, saw you first
Under the same lavender tree.
Briskly you walked, rarely you smiled
Even to your few fellow friends
And me was invisible to your eyes
A shadow masked you, I guess.
A cheery spring send me in
To your eyes (and to your heart?)
Under the same lavender tree
I stood smiling, my mind at cloud nine.
I looked up the lavender in bloom,ah!
“Lavender with spikes of blue;
sweeter plant was never found
growing on our English ground.”
So true was that poet(*).
Several springs were passed
The silent love surpassed
Who will tell first? our minds fought
And the wicked silence always won.
Wars dragged us apart, our dreams dread
and dead, cries and blood, tears made flood
You went out first, as always, to help
And I was left here to melt.
Each spring , I longed
To see you back strong
None who went out returned
And I was overturned.
A wagon’s sound so often
Made my dreams into motion
As they passed my shelter
I would lay back somber.
Each spring the lavender bloomed
And a poor me stared and gloomed
Each flower was dropped
My each hope was knocked.
I looked out, felt what I saw,
the nest of birds’ who flee
the kitten and chicks , who glee
Happiness found in a surreal life.
As I pass from hall to hall
Some blurry mirror would yell and tell
The deep wrinkles on my face
Reminding a bloom that fades.
Now, we are worn and torn
But, still you ask when I was born
Know and note my beloved, the day
I saw you was the day I was born.
**************************************
(*) “Lavender with spikes of blue;
sweeter plant was never found
growing on our English ground.”
Words by Caryl Battersby