After Many Cold Winters

After many cold winters, they met again, Under the poplar tree on a starry moonlit night Though they had planned it over many a time It came to fruition after such long lapse of years Once they loved as no lovers could ever In devotion, never they faltered, never once failed But fate was sadly against this star crossed pair And the young lovers had to part ways in pain, Don't assume they are at a chance rendezvous But in a place, after much thought has been chosen To refresh a memory, to recreate a scene To step back to a time when they were still young In the campus, there stood a towering tree A giant poplar with overhanging boughs In whose shade they had sat many a time And wove dreams about a life so sweet and colorful Once again the old class mates have congregated, Exactly at the same place under the same tree The college building being shifted to a new campus A plush resort has come to occupy its place But the tree still stands solitary as a mute witness To that spectacular drama once enacted in its shade Though years have wrinkled its aged bark Still it bears the indelible mark of a heart pierced by an arrow To its cover they have been drawn once more Not to renew their bond or weave fresh dreams But just to see and feel once and never more For a fleeting second to be in love's prison bound After hours of long talk, they embraced each other In a firm clasp their lips curved, glances intertwined The Earth stirred beneath their feet A sea of emotion swelled in their hearts An eloquent silence lingered deep The celestial bodies above stood in breathless anticipation From the sepulchered past, dead worlds awoke They knew, separation had only accentuated their love Alas! Nothing could their severed lives entwine Nor an embrace, the shattered years combine Yet this they meant as their last gesture of love Hoping its memory would fuel them when weary Once more they put their arms around For the last time they looked at each other With eyes blurred and moistened with tears And billows of emotion rising sky high Fearing they would lose their composure Abruptly they turned their wan faces away Without another word of good bye They walked away into the stillness of the night!