Some Day

Some day, 

I hope I'd break free 

To be a child again, 

No holds barred 

No longer having to feign smiles,

No need to set alarms,

No jotting down to-do notes, 

No need to hurry through the tea-cup unfinished

No creaseless shirts and creased foreheads, 

No running back-to-back calls,

No wasting time at airports, 

No stays at lifeless five-starred hotels

Yet not a single star to blink at.

Some day, 

I hope to break free 

To run, riot, and live like a child! 

Some day,

I hope to see the child come to life, in me, 

To get a spark of a smile,

A hug for a hug,

Get to kick into the fields, and shake up the dust,

Or play with the gravels as we walk,

Back from school, 

Stop by the hawkers to pick a ball of churan,

Or the frail frame of the sharbat-ra chacha,

For a stick of handmade kala-khatta,

Or the long hours to spend with my own,

Not a wrinkle of worry about time, 

Gossip away about so many things

And branch into silly nothings,

Not getting shy,

To let my hair down

Even if that meant being silly! 

Some day

I hope to be a child again,
Relive the fun, happiness, and life

To get around on my cycle,

To rush to my favourite hunt, 

As my heart pounded hard, 

As hope matched the pace of my breath,

To get to meet my moon,

That November evening,

As the fields courted the dew,

And bathed in the golden moonlight, 

As I stocked up my reserves of smiles

Until the next full moon, 

Or the journey by the Mahanadi banks,

Cherishing the moments, 

Of the silence of that evening,

To be broken only by the beats of hearts,

And the nervous locking of glances,

That continues to dance across my eyes

Many winters after. 

How I long 

To be a child again, 

To be back with the precious gems of life, 

To the unhindered passions,
And the restive thoughts

To the fleeting frames of smiles

On the long passionate evenings

And the longer endless nights, 

With a nip in the air,

And a bit of warmth that blew along from memory, 

As I lie in wait to be a child, again, 

Some day! 

© Sashikant Mohanty