Aria

by Latha Prem Sakhya

[box]Latha Sakhya writes a poem celebrating the joys and memories of a treasured friend.[/box]

Strains of a once familiar song,
Lapping on the shores of my memory.
Tantalized and teased me to pursue
Its’ haunting, yet evading, elusive lines.

In hot pursuit I crashed
Through the labyrinthine maze of my mind,
Stacked high with neatly packed caskets
Containing variegated experiences of my life.

In varied colors and shapes,
The gazing memory caskets mocked me.
For, in the haste of living I had forgotten
To label them neatly for future reference.

The glazed, blank look of the unlabelled caskets,
Unnerved me, with their still, icy silence.
I had forgotten the content of most of them;
And an urge to open and reminisce mastered me.

But I deliberately ignored that wanton desire,
My soul’s undivided aim- to trace the source
Of that familiar song, haunting me relentlessly,
Coerced my mind to reveal the recurring melody.

The intense quest of my soul seared and scorched me;
My agonized being vibrated with the mounting tempo-
Of the reverberating echoes of the haunting notes.
And in a blue flash of light I saw YOU-framed in my inner eyes.

Like a roaring wave from an alien shore,
The Lydian measure came rushing to my ears-
The aria celebrating our idyllic friendship,
For a brief span of ten years.

The recaptured song, from the sea of oblivion-
Created by the “sick hurry, and fret of living”;
Flooded and environed my being with your memories,
Fluttering like homing pigeons.

Our friendship transcended the earthly barriers,
As if we had been friends for eons.
Our shared thoughts, feelings, attitudes, experiences,
And our identical visions of life strengthened our bond.

Yet you lived in a plain sublime;
Your faith and absolute trust in God,
Made you a source of inspiration,
To all, who came into close contact with you.

A unique incarnation of love-
You accepted, forgave and patiently bore-
Uncomplainingly, the undeserving yoke in your life-
A real model of human virtues.

Oft, I had enjoyed your care and concern;
Your loving presence and letters of consolation,
Had often restored my bruised and injured soul,
Wafting me to serene shores of peace and happiness.

You had bowed helplessly to your fate,
When the relentless Reaper brought to naught-
Your hard won spiritual and earthly honours,
Destroying forever your intense desire to live.

Unreconciled to the reality of loss, I see you
Immaculately dressed in starched saree, hurrying to your classes
With an arm-load of books, and your bespectacled eyes,
Dancing and smiling greetings to your friends and students.

I see you again immersed in your post-doctoral studies,
And guiding your students, or bustling about
Attending to your never ending chores
As wife, daughter-in-law, friend and teacher.

All these images instill in me a fond hope-
The hope of meeting you soon…as though
I need only to put aside my daily chores
And make a surprise visit as in yester years.

From the book Memory Rain By Latha Prem Sakhya

Latha Prem Sakhya is a poet at heart and a teacher by profession. She is very passionate about painting. Latha has published two books, MEMORY RAIN (2008) –  a collection of 64 poems and NATURE AT MY DOORSTEP (2011) – a medley of her reflections, poems and paintings.

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