(1)
There was a time
once upon a time
when time had a lot of ‘time’,
It was a time when open spaces in the city
didn’t come with a premium;
(2)
Soon after school –
I still remember the rush to our nearby open grounds,
Hurriedly abandoning our school bags,
Clad half in school uniform, half in casuals,
Stinking socks lay disconcertingly near our kitchen door,
Amma’s repeated summons for lunch would fall into deaf ears,
(3)
Dusk – Abba’s ears would by now have already been fed by Amma,
With the cane and homework awaiting us,
We would hang up our boots for the day,
Two stinging whacks and a quick evening snack,
We would then get down to business – homework;
Those days –
Early supper – early to bed – and an early rise;
(4)
Then – There were the red tomatoes and green lemons
in our miniature garden,
The cheating in the hide-and-seek games,
A dip in the nearby polluted pond,
Our kitchen cat in his corridors of power,
The chasing away of stray cows from our compound,
The melting ice-cream dripping till our elbows,
How groundnuts crunch between our teeth after coming out of its ‘oyster-shells’,
The morning newspapers used to be cricket and not violence in their pages,
The milkman’s arrival and my departure for school
were timed to perfection,
These images of happiness and many more are at a premium now;
© Sabah
.. happiness is expensive these days ❤️
So true Neelakshi, happiness indeed is expensive and elusive these days. Glad you liked my poem. Take care!
those were the best days of my lyf… ❤
Thank you dear Gitartha ?
Spread happiness, be happy only thing more can’t buy yet …
Thank you so much dear
Beautiful masterpiece of words yet again from the beautiful world of imagination of yours dear Sabah Sir…
So sweet of you dear Diraksh. Thank you so much
Love it… those were the days!
Thank you so much dear friend Sid
Very nostalgic and well written. Brings back memories of my Don Bosco days. By the way I am Siddhartha’s younger cousin. He shared me the link to your page.
Thank you so much dear Kaushik. Glad you like it. Stay blessed and take care.
Really.
Loved the flow of the words!
The journey must go on…
Jayshree, so sweet of you. Glad you like it. Stay blessed.
Sir I loved the poem
Thank you so much dear Amit. God bless you always. Best wishes in life.
Like!! Great article post.Really thank you! Really Cool.
Thank you so much. So glad you liked it. Best wishes always.