By Suhani Negandhi
The gloomy winds blew without the usual swoosh,
Quiet and almost numb,
Echoing how I felt inside,
As I returned home from work blear-eyed.
When my boss tore my contract,
My dreams of creating something long-lasting,
Something that will exist even when I cease to do so,
Something that will be present forever,
At least that was my endeavour.
I could have built a beautiful piece of fine architecture,
But my dreams were swept along
With the bits of torn paper into the dustbin- so wrong.
Now that I think about it,
My creation wouldn’t be permanent,
One fine day,
It will just become a pile of dust gray,
Mosses will start living inside the cracks of concrete,
Paint will fade to the ugliest of dull shades like deceit,
I am not even sure if the Earth will exist forever,
The sun? And the moon? The solar system?
The sun will die like the other stars without resistance.
“Ouch!” My train of thoughts was interrupted,
By a ball hitting me on my cheek,
I turn to see who kicked it with such technique,
“I am sorry,” A boy, looking about eight said,
“Please pass the ball ahead.”
I walked inside the park,
Balancing the ball on my feet,
Then swiftly passing it to the boy like a pro athlete.
He was alone, no friends or parents nearby,
His face echoed the coldness of the wind in a familiar way
“Would you like to play with me?”
I looked over my shoulder to his hopeful gleaming eyes,
How could I say no?
A while later,
I was clutching my stomach unable to hold my laughter,
This boy was adorable,
And played football better than I will ever,
“I beat you again,” He said, grinning, “Rematch?”
“No, I am tired.” I said lying on the green grass patch.
My feet were exhausted and lungs needed more air,
I had forgotten about how
How everything would erase someday,
How something as big as the universe,
Something as small as atoms will collapse into nothingness.
“Do you believe in forever?” I ask the boy.
He smiled his signature heart-warming smile,
His smile that could move mountains,
Could tell the world to stop,
Could make anybody believe anything,
His smile that wasn’t there a few minutes ago.
“I do.” he said.
I sighed.
As the boy dribbled the ball,
I thought to myself,
How the leaves turn yellow,
Day changes into night,
Today I am rich,
Tomorrow I am poor,
How there are both good days and bad days.
And most of all
Even if the pages in a book will become tattered and torn,
Even if we will all turn to ashes,
The sun erodes to dust and gas,
Even if the world would wipe away one day,
Most importantly, even if the boy forgets about this day,
which he probably will,
It will never ever change the fact,
That today he laughed. I laughed.
And we were happy. And we played an amazing game of football.
Today was permanent, today happened, today will last,
No amount of force, no amount of anything can change that.
“Thank you for playing with me,” the boy said, “I have a hard
time making friends.”
“No problem.”
The wind was chill but not cold,
It was playful in a way,
And echoed the way energy surged in my veins.
“Will you come play with me every day?” His eyes sparkling.
How could I say no?
Comments