Bougainvillea bough

July 21, 2016

A cool summer evening, a setting sun

Should have been pretty enough

To entice one.

But I kept walking silently

On that dirty park lane

With my preoccupied mind

Thinking ’bout my own troubles and pain

Paying no heed to nature.

It beckoned me valiantly

To force me to open my eyes

The vibrant skies tried bravely

To make me see

The wondrous world again.

Defiantly, I walked on

Not looking around

Thinking about the day that was

An eon of a day, it had been

It had made me fussy and cross.

I was completely preoccupied

Thinking of my sadness

Of old wounds that burnt red

And of people who made it burn so.

I wondered if I would ever

Make it back to the point

From wherever

I had fallen back.

And then perhaps perchance,

I looked up. I looked at her.

She smiled. I looked at her askance.

But there was something in that smile

That was reassuring.

I smiled back tentatively.

She was swaying to the tunes of the wind

Her happy pink visage, glowing.

She was the picture of happiness

Of pure, boundless joy.

Of color and beauty and prettiness

Of enjoying life immensely.

I couldn’t help but feel jealous

Her smile was mocking me

I could take it no longer and

I asked her stiffly

‘How is it that you smile so?

Why do you feel no pain?

Has life never been unjust to you?

She said, “Who said there is no trouble

In my life at all? Look at me and close”.

“My laden boughs weigh me down.

But I keep my head high.

I am supported by this structure

Else I should truly die.

But I make the structure beautiful

And that’s a choice I make.

My weak limbs are at the mercy of the wind.

But it makes all the difference when I dance to its tunes”.

I walked back a wiser man.

I walked back with my head held higher.

I walked back with the understanding

That nothing could put me lower

Than my own self.

I turned back to thank her

My pink angel.

No one was there

Except for a laden bougainvillea bough.

It swayed to say goodbye.

 

 

Mysuru, Karnataka, India