Right in the middle of
my childhood square
stood a peepal tree
with a neat mud surround.
A platform under the tree
for the heat exhausted,
and my day-off climb to the top.
This gave me a top shot
of roads on all sides,
a hint of things to come
and an unsaid scare in the heart
of my constant childhood companion.
My cavalier climb stamped
heroism in her tender heart and
thus started my love affair with tree.
Then one day
they pulled the tree from roots
and gave our childhood square a roundabout,
which did help the marriage cavalcade
to our street unhindered,
I was too young to be sad
and wasn’t even happy for her.
They never bothered to plant another tree
leaving me very alone for much of my life.
Then after some years they leveled the roundabout
to widen the roads for the maddening rush.
She came back to find everything missing
including my love for the shade of old
tree and jilted envy for everything green.
She went on to have four children and a divorce
and stalked mad for a hint of shade
in the scorching sun of life.
Although I am past recounting unrequited love
but the pain of my childhood tree refuses to move on.
