Long ago—Biswajit Chatterjee

 Long ago 

When the sky was greener than the famished beanstalk 

And the earth had a need of your mirth 

The secret line between hope and its mirage was a vanishing red 

And your lips were richer than the purest almond of the earth.

You came running to fix my buttonhole 

And I must admit I didn't have the purest soul!

Your teeth were silver with the sharpness of a killer razor 

Your eyes deeper than the magic river of a Tibetian art 

Your voice was shaky like the whisper of the Garuda hills 

Your fingers reached out for the untamed island of my heart.

Now a picture of yours appears at my public jukebox 

The face resembles you minus your innocence and inimitable style 

Four hundred miles is a distance a spider cannot travel in winter 

The cobwebs of a fading brain can only wryly smile.

Long ago you had unclocked the ship of buzzing time 

I stand alone in the grey architecture of my unpublished book of rhymes....