Minefields

​

The steps are smaller

Than my nimble feet remember.

I climb them two at a time,

Skipping memories

Like minefields.

 

The koels are still here

With their songs;

Masked bee eaters, spoonbills and sunbirds-

The season’s flavour-

Now add to the evening clamour.

 

Termites have built abodes

With the dust of abandoned dreams

And unused melancholy

On derelict walls –

Nostalgia has the nicest friends.

 

The house still stands tall but

Home has misplaced its landmarks;

There now lives

An abstract familiarity

Where a boy once scraped his knees bloody

 

Building worlds

Of implausible possibilities.

 

~ Sumeet