BALLAD OF BLUE SKY AND YELLOW BOWER

That bower of yellow flowers lady

Like grapes dangling from snake green vine

And the sky over your garden, lady

That was so much bluer than mine

Songs for the butterfly, lady, I had

Sung in my youth without fear

My days had pure colors then lady

Colors that spring had wrung clear

Hark now to the whispers of early

Years lady, and a sun still so young

That time was so fine then, lady they were

Finer than your wedding gown

The grass was new velvet lady, and fulgent

Were the waters. Verdant was the paddy,

And, mangoes were crisp and tart.

When with our stone slung catapults lady

We shot like furies at the guava trees

Stirring the thickets with such wicked glee

The scolding parrots were shocked into silence

And, in silence the birds were forced to flee  

Oh how we chased those days carelessly

Lady, like dancing will o' the wisps

Those elusive, dream days lady, that rise

Like distant blinding white sun discs

And they beckon me now lady

Now that I brave the cold with such longing,

For your bright sky and your bower lady

They fill me now with such yearning

Oh such yearning now for the yellow, for the blue

For all the green and gold of spring

In my trembling hands I hold, still butterflies

To the pale talc of their colors I cling.

More Poems By Rumjhum

Kavitanjali

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