BRITTLE

 

BRITTLE

 

To immerse in thought past events,

That shook me uprooted from the trust,

My school friend from childhood,

Both knew very well, each other,

Knew our parents, close friends,

Family visits, we play enjoyed,

The closeness grew with age, reality,

Studying together occasionally,

Worked out school tasks problems,

Exchanged notebooks, interacted,

Gift on birthdays with greetings,

Life unknowingly crept into college,

No more walking together n advised,

She went to college with girlfriends,

Taste how soon changed, our gossip,

Attending class, enjoyable, messages,

Paper, torn drawing funny caption,

Circulated among friends a game,

Turned to comment on a teacher,

Drawing of girl students, comments,

My childhood girlfriend, classmate,

I found nasty comments on her,

School break turned into fighting,

Who wrote the comment was beaten,

I was dragged to the principal later,

I never told what was written,

Faced punishment, begged for excuses,

She asked at home about the incident,

I remained silent, and she got angry,

Till we passed college, she knew it,

I was hiding this episode, a fight,

Classmates linked both in love,

Assumed undesirable rumors,

What they discussed, known avoided,

Never knew, but my girlfriend marked,

Found to be remorse, introverted, sad,

She was worried for me, questioned,

Questions frequent met a wall,

In me, unfriendly she interpreted,

After repeated efforts, I failed,

She disconnected friendship totally,

We found the world separated,

University, then service came in life,

I just remembered her, sweet memory,

Our gossip walking to school,

Sharing gifts, chocolates, new pens,

Years, distant friends were changing,

I found the woman in life loved her,

Thought we both to get married,

Once we gossiped at a park, I told,

About my childhood friend to her,

She was surprised, told she knew,

She was her friend at university,

We got married by now, settled,

Never disclosed this incident to her,

It happened my school friend visited,

Visited her university friend only,

She got shocked to find me, curious,

Introduced my wife as my classmate,

That broke our bond little surfaced,

I knew she remembered clearly,

At departure, she enquired again,

You beat that boy black and blue,

Will you please tell me the truth?

My voice was brittle, cracking, said,

It was an obscene message on paper,

It falsely linked our deep friendship,

Old paper brittle, dust is in my heart,

 

@ Bijayananda Mishra