Autumn or Fall

By Neeharika Mishra

Breeze of summer bid adieu, 

It's autumn they named it 

The leaves fell, cold and dead 

Evaporating from its green lush, 

I call it fall from a glance 

Through the window of translucency. 

You see, life is beautiful 

I laughed at the espy of this, 

As I perch on the tiles 

The waves of medicines inclined 

On my lap, waiting for me to anguish 

And cry a thousand death of life. 

I wondered at the intervals of phases 

It flips in a blink of tiny tales. 

I was rejuvenating to hold my tiny child 

Her wrist to hold my finger for once 

Like bloomed petals of tulips,

 And adored my wife for warmth. 

I smiled millions in miles 

Enchanted to shoulder my duties 

As a father and husband, 

And love them for who they are, 

But fate has its knot labyrinthine. 

My new born daughter from birth bed 

Don't hold my finger anymore, 

And my wife doesn't feel my cry, 

Nor wipe them away from my face, 

They lay lifeless on deathbeds 

They have no will, no smiles flow. 

I couldn't be a good father, 

Nor could be a good husband, 

I blame myself, I shall till the end. 

Yet, our one time clicked photo 

Remains intact in my hands, 

And now forever safe in my heart, 

Their eyes closed, mine at them. 

Pain is greater outside captivation 

Of a family who has no members, 

Perhaps I too died today, 

Yet alive to keep them alive in intangibility. 

The sights, the movements 

Are slipping from one rue to another 

I watched it, slowly and gradually 

Waning from my eyes to vanish forever. 

Oh! what curse it is, my majesty

They are in front, yet they are not, 

It is life that's all echoing in the room. 

My life has fallen like those leaves 

They called autumn, I heard fall. 

By Neeharika Mishra