Make me who I was, the spring flower in winter

playing silly games, take me where I came from,

where the sunshine made me jump, and the rain

made me dance, make me think the way I did,

when the grass was green and the water blue, take

me to the place under the bed-sheet I called home,

where happiness was found in the leftover cookies,

and work brewed inside the tiny white kettle chirping,

let me lie down on that rooftop again, with the dusty

white frock on, gazing at the stars and dreaming the unknown,

take me to the time, when I wanted to be my mother,

when I could not sense the pain in her singing voice

and see the tears in her sparkling eyes, take me to people I

knew – the kind ones, the generous ones who carry

only a face of their own, take me back in time,

to the land of lost & found, & never bring me back again.

By:

Tulika Awasthi