Summer's Nostalgia

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Now I run, on sunny misty fields -
In desperate spirits, dreaming to be free,
Summer has come, the birds call out for love,
The days are turned into a joyous paradise.

The sunlight tingles from in between the leaves,
The lanes are filled with vendors selling things,
They beat the heat and perspiration
To earn that livelihood for a better hand-to-mouth's compensation.

I walk through the streets of old Calcutta,
Caressing the walls where, once, the lovers etched in their pain,
For summer brings in the life you thought you lost -
As you glimpse on to brighter things of your demons.

I look to the sky, the birds fly in liberty,
The sun rays blindfold my eyes,
Thrown back into the old memories of my boyhood -
How I'd go kite-flying near the lakeside,
And spent the day in Mother Nature's lap.

It took me a fortnight to realise the essence of summer,
A grown up human now, learning the ways of living -
While I stand aside to watch the kids fly kites, red and blue,
I fondly reminisce the hard and sweet melodies of a child.

As dusk appears, the sky is adorned by bright red shades,
The taxis honk and the street lights make the sorrow within me, absconding.
Life would come to a standstill one day,
The trails are unknown;
Only summer's call can heal these wounds,
That I received, in this bondage of adulthood.

              
                            - Anurima Mukherjee

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