OBSESSED

 

OBSESSED

 

 

Remember college, life, intense,

Youth colored the time, thrilled,

Curious heart seeking searched,

Searched things in life secretly,

Friends closing heart matching,

Study obsessions, a little disturbed,

Sneaking out of class to canteens,

Girlfriend trustworthy keeps notes,

Share class notes or questions willingly,

Hidden warmth, sweet understanding,

Liking and love, youthful intrigues,

Customs, disciplines, social misery,

Laughs swallowed, looks deflected,

Touch touchy matter illicitly desired,

Messages, in small papers, in notebooks,

Exchanged hundreds of times thirsty,

How much ridicule for friends taunting,

Their smiles were so irritating, placate,

Free sweets at canteens plead to ignore,

Discovered a friend in love and caught,

Book, notebook, exchanged while walking,

How many letters  were exchanged, unknown,

Graduation being completed exam near,

Stopped friend circle, picnic, park, cinema,

Hope colored young dreams result in reality,

An age, no mobile, telephone rare,

Confined to home, colleges closed, study,

Could never dare to meet a girlfriend,

Fear of elders for both, feeling lyrical,

Lost the fun of youth result day,

Cycled to friends, homes, gathered,

Waiting for newspaper lists published,

Divisions, honors, pass roll numbers,

Minutes, results were known, life crashed,

Close friends got failed, sad consoling a lot,

Another friend excelled, never expected,

Demands for sweets grew suddenly,

Shared passing results somberly happy,

Visited, colleges opened, boys and girls,

Mixed surreptitiously with girlfriends,

Exchanged result questions hundred,

Tomorrow is electric yet unknown,

Thousand promises to meet in the future,

Lines drawn on sifting sand obliterated,

The love-soaked night, infinite letters,

Melted into mists of dawn, hope sprouted,

University, friend circle changed,

Girlfriends, now distinct of caste, class,

Distancing with community ties,

Marriage, ambitions of career swinging,

Married, within own cast and status,

Settled by now, with service, children,

Obsessed with the life of kids young,

Online-study coaching class internet,

Books, question-answer sets digital,

Teachers taking online classes to interact,

Examination-online objective pages,

Virtual world life changes mode,

Attending technical colleges is costly,

Percentile decides edge competitive,

No one is seen who passed or failed,

Girlfriends from not college or school,

Mobile, cyber links unit strangers,

Lost the decency of our generation, shy,

Bold undesirable times of day message,

Meetings at every odd possible place,

Certainty sensitivity is missing,

Obsessed with virtual human life insensitive,

Misses the delicate soft human touch,

Visible from our generation pitiably.

 

  @ Bijayananda Mishra