SIFAR...nothingness

◑ The Things We Left Behind ◐

 This piece (poetry or free verse) is dedicated to my school friends, my "chuddy buddies" who have always been with me, in the best of my times and the worst of my times, simply accepting me, flaws, warts and all. 

You will never find a place on this list  

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the things we left behind

The books I read,

From the fairy tales to the wonderland of Alice,

Too jaded now to find things curiouser and curiouser.

From the starry eyed enchantment of Enid Blyton

to the amateur sleuthing of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys.

From the adventures penned by Alistair Maclean and Desmond Bagley

to the fantasy realms of Tolkien and Jordan;

Chicken soup for the soul and word stew for the mind,

As worlds fuelled by words that lit up the imagination,

and books soon became an obsession.

Many are the books I have read, still have to read

and yet quite a few that I will never get around to reading.

the things we left behind...

Stack of coffee cups and miles of conversation.

Early morning discussions and debates with my mom,

the years have rolled by and yet it is a ritual that endures.

Conversations with colleagues around the coffee machine

over paper cups with lukewarm brown swill;

Of time passed by as a break from the monotony of numbers,

a brief respite from the daily job.

Steaming coffee kept aside, forgotten

As I had to finish just another page before I could take a sip.

On lazy summer afternoons with the daily newspaper

And chilly winter evenings with coffee and silence for company.

the things we left behind...

Hair in pigtails braided with black ribbons and

Sweet mulberries that stained our hands in sticky purple red

School days and tedious homework

Which we grudged and complained about

The games we played during sunny afternoons

And the knees we skinned on the trees we climbed.

Cycling in the hot sun and during monsoon days,

Unmindful of the heat and oblivious to the rain.

Carefree moments where the only worries were

Weekly tests and whether homework would

Steal into our play times.

the things we left behind...

The days when I was only a daughter,

Warm and safe in a secure cocoon,

Still hear my Dad's voice, his laughter still echoes in my ears.

Memories of running to open the gate and waiting

As he backed the car to the garage, before

I updated him on the mundane happenings of the day,

In the time it took to cover the thirty steps to home.

When death was only a fact that hovered in the distance

Till it struck home and so close.

Surprising, how the loss of one parent

Has left me less than half a daughter.

the things we left behind...

The childhood crushes and the adolescent fantasies,

Some shattered dreams and some goals achieved.

Bitter lessons learnt and milestones crossed,

Despite personal failures and professional lows.

Childhood buddies, fair weather friends and persistent foes

Hobbies that changed with time, old ones forgotten

And new ones attempted as different fancies encountered.

Constant march over the ups and downs of life,

Time leaving us older and experiences, hopefully, the wiser.

the things we left behind...

And yet, in fond remembrance and the ugly scars,

And in the lessons learnt and truths realised;

In emotional baggage we carry and the memory boxes we treasure,

Deep within us, in our hearts and mind;

Stay the intangible remnants of them all.

Maybe in reality, there is not much that remains as...

the things we left behind...

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This was penned as a response to a prompt for the month of January in another writing site that I frequent. As the deadline elapsed before I could complete it, I gave up the attempt. 

Then when I started being active here, I went ahead and completed it. And since I wanted to show off, I had posted it as a separate book, but now I am re-posting it in this collection.

Warning - there is no specific structure, too loose to be poetry and too many bits to be prose. But would be nice if you read and let me know how bad (or good) it is .