A SONG OF CHILDHOOD

 

Saroj K. Padhi

 

O days of sweet Childhood

Unleash your wild joys

Like you did this noon:

Under shadows of perfumed dreams

Cascades of mango buds

Drips of honey

Breezy revels of flowers, swaying leaves

­When the flutter of feathers

Overhead was an ecstasy.

 

Love then was a wonder

The first touch to Earth of monsoon

A gaze at the silvery sky

A dance of waves

A ripple of singing rivers.

 

How oft’ I fancy

Lying close to you ­

A babe to its mother;

Groping for honey buds

Babbles tuned to the ear.

 

Today I search for you

In metaphors of memory

When mid-life blue

Stares hard at me

And getting you, a dream.

 

Come O Heavens, lift me,

Make me drunk with

Your wild oozings

Help me disappear

Into your rainbows.

 

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