Am a Leaf

“Am a leaf, floating lonely in the river,

No dreams of delight, no perils to quiver,

No desires or unrequited love to bother,

But an eternal morose on my mother.”

So whispered the lanky Sacred Knight,

In the graveyard, on a monsoon night,

And gazed he at the star spangled sky,

As if to tell the meteors passing by,

A story by no means he told in the past,

All of a sudden decided to tell at last.

Then when he told his tearful tale,

All those listened grew sad and pale,

The deceased souls, the desolate night,

All felt grief on poor Knight’s blight.

They asked why thus far he failed to tell,

And chose to squander chances to quell,

Woeful memories besmirched with pain,

And paved paths for loneliness to reign.

To that question he answered thus,

In a rueful sound, yet with no fuss.

“To tell I had often longed and longed,

And did tell some women who thronged,

But they, in their days of youthful thrill,

Didn’t fathom why I am weeping shrill,

And never reckoned my emotive grace,

Left me orphaned in absolute disgrace.

Albeit sombre, I am still firm and brave,

Hence never choose to rant or rave,

Cold winters don’t make me shiver,

Am a leaf, floating lonely in the river."

(This is my first rhyming poem. Dedicated to my father who would have been extremely pleased to read this one.)