SECRETS

 

SECRETS 

 

It was decades ago, our teenage,

Innocent lives unaware of life really,

Far from complex world scrutiny,

Believing nature swallows the mind,

Gossip rumors conversation link,

The unruly mind forgets time, duty,

The culvert while going to school,

Sharing sweets, sour paste together,

Sister was elder a few years senior,

Our lives remember that culvert,

Why do we feel stealing from home,

Share stolen foods licking taste buds,

She enjoys the glint in my eyes,

Keeping secrets, eyes exchanges,

Countless smiles stories are long,

We sleep at a nearby pond and sit together,

Peanuts fried rice mixture packed,

Sister keeps these foods in a school bag,

We share to finish completely return,

Attend our classes, Didi wait for me,

We both maintain coin boxes sealed,

 I deposit more than Didi's gifts a lot,

Quarrel begins my box gets full,

She demands my coins I refuse,

Get threatened on licking secret,

Once I failed to submit homework,

Get caught by the teacher, kneel down,

Sitting in front of the classroom holding ears,

She found me and promised to be silent,

Kissed her, just out of fear, placating,

Bag of secrets we both carry listed,

Retort at her mild threat elaborate,

Next few moments, slugfest was childish,

Quarrel continued the entire night,

Cut off relations innumerable times,

The first one is for me to surrender to her,

Sleep on her lap knowingly in tears,

Pacify her silence and bring out smiles,

She was my teacher and corrected homework,

My passion is to disturb her while she studies,

She shouts at me; I break into laughter,

She runs after me but never catches me, 

Ma and Papa smiling, talked mutually,

Little can I understand, don't know,

Culvert or pond, we sit, she explains all,

Believes her by heart discloses mistakes,

She warns but never exposes me,

Our lives entwined fond each other,

The silk thread Rakhi with sweets,

Wait eagerly for time didi ties in my hand,

Never could understand the subtle meaning,

Grew up, married, established in life,

I broke down the day didi left home,

Hadn't taken food, was crying consoled,

Tols Ma once had to leave her parents,

Met friends, loved parents, my wife,

Have children I love more than soul,

But the sister is in my heart bonded tightly,

The silk thread binding an invisible knot,

Kept her secret lifelong she confessed,

Didi was in love in college silently,

Lost her guts to protest, selected by her Papa,

Her marriage she surrendered reluctantly,

Couldn't gather her courage to tell her Papa,

Kept secret from Ma, and I protested a lot,

She told me a daughter is for family prestige,

Secrets I kept, locked, didi trusts,

She is my sister, friend, and teacher.

 

Pen: Bijayananda Mishra

Title of Poem: Secrets

Themes: Bond between younger brother and sister

Written: 1st July 2023, Cuttack

@ Copywrite