The Incomplete Story

She stood by him,
With calm and grace,
And eyes fixed on his face,
Maybe keen to ask a hundred questions,
Many that she couldn't for a long time,
But her lips were sealed, her feet frozen
Just like him.
Her frame shaken, yet not broken,
She ran her fingers over his head
Feeling the sindoor on his forehead
That she had trusted to protect him,
That was still intact,
As fresh as a couple  of days back,
So what if his olive uniform
Was smeared in the same colors,
He still had the smile on,
Infectious yet illusive,
As she ran her fingers over them,
"He is my husband, my strength!"
A calm unshaken voice emerged
She will never make it to the words
"He was!"

The boy hadn't changed from his uniform,
His school bag all but weightless,
He wasn't running around the house
Looking for his bat and ball,
He wasn't clawing at Mama's dupatta
To bargain for a game on the phone,
His lips had dried up,
As a thousand thoughts dribbled in his little head
And the throbbing pain meant little before the question
Why do you doze off in between
Before you complete the story?

She sat with her head tucked between hands,
Resigned to fate,
And trying to find support in her frail legs,
She always beamed a smile when he's homebound
But not today,
As memories of her brat,
Playing pranks on her, tiring her out
Kept crisscrossing before her,
She set her gaze on his closed eyes,
Hoping they'd move, again
Talking to herself,
Tell me, my lad, this is one more prank!




© Sashikant Mohanty

Unwrit Lines

As the evening crept in stealthily,
And the shadows faded away
On the burnt amber bedsheets
To disappear finally from sight,
The breeze turned spirited,
Flirting with the curtains,
Seemed like they liked the dark,
Maybe, I did too.
Were they in love as well! 

As the evening wore on,
An unusual warmth hugged me,
Was it not eerie,
I still wonder if it was the spring breeze,
Or, was it the embrace of the dreams
That never quite made it!

I leaned against the window,
As the sky winked a smile,
And the shy curtains wrapped me up in a hug
Was I missing something,
Or, someone,
As a rogue breeze just blew in the scent
Of
The unsent letters,
The unpenned thoughts,
The unwrit lines,
The unspoiled beauty,
The unkempt locks,
The unspoken words,
The unkept promises,
The unshed tears,
And, the unseen smiles!




 © Sashikant Mohanty

Moments

As I walked past the aisles
And scanned through the sundries
To find the best I could find for you,
To make up for the days, away
To make up for the dreams we missed,
And the stories I couldn't tell you to bed,
As I battled out weary feelings,
One broken thought got stuck, somewhere
Maybe even slowed me down
As the blurred frame cleared itself up -
Every time you'd hear I'd be away
The first, often the only question you had was
When do you get back? 


When I sit back alone
Gazed into the grey evening skies,
Musing over life's journeys
Trying to roll back, and replay random frames
From an oft-played memory roll
Go back to the occasions
When we'd share a giggle, a grin, a hearty laugh
Or, maybe a rare quiet smile
It wasn't about the nameless toys, that lay around
Maybe nothing mattered, even if there were,
It was all about those moments,
The priceless moments! 


As the skies cleared up
And the sun fired up the sky into a crimson yellow,
As my breath straightened out, so my thoughts
The writing stood out of the haze
The best gifts
Aren't the ones lying in the racks,
Even if I hopped a few borders over
They aren't what heaps of notes could buy
They lie within,
Moments, 
The precious,
The priceless moments! 




© Sashikant Mohanty