AUTUMN LADY

BY NANDA NAIR A

I waited for him

Dark and alone,

Wanting to touch him every second.

Traveling through space and time

Noticed I- hundreds of men,

Passing by- away from their darling

Ladies.

Each with mixed emotions-

Worried were some,

Anger brimming in a few others.

Yet, amongst those hundreds

Found all but mine.

Time ticked, so did patience mine-

Turning oblivious without,

Within went i.

“Wait for me, my darling,” said he once,

I, not a traitor, waited all alone.

Hunger biting me, patience poking me-

And a million questions bothering me.

Busy might he be,

But tousled my heart:

“Has a second woman owned his

Heart?”

Me, a mere pseudo possessor?

---

As the leaves in autumn fall,

Faith never stayed.

Hours passed, so did questions.

Questions not trivial

Anymore, stayed there;

Taunting her every second.

Behold the world, a woman’s wait-

The unheard cry of a woman’s heart.

The wait ripens like a fruit.

The seed being her soul,

The pulp her heart

The peel, her skin.

Awfully long, waits her,

The seed yellowed.

The bulb browned,

The skin wrinkled.

Boiling mind formed

Blisters of everything

But loath!

Lengthened the wait-

So did her man’s dupe.

Like her locks, curled was his heart.

Unable to find the right trail,

Spending a life for the wrong-

In the path of the unknown,

Caught stuck for eternity.

Till the lights went off,

Until the heart shut down,

Until no longer could her soul hold it,

Asked her, “loved him but return any?”