My First Glimpse of Her

By Thomas Thottungal

My first glimpse of her

Was on a wayward trip along

The winding roads of Munnar,

Friends and colleagues in tow.

I marked the spot,

And hours later on our way back

We pulled up beside her.

I looked her up

From every possible angle,

The most perfect specimen of her kind,

Beautiful as can be,

And well endowed.

An indelible impression she painted

On my youthful mind.

Two years down the line

Traversing the same route

On another wild jaunt into the hills

I waited with bated breath

To have another glimpse of her.

But alas! She no longer was there.

Instead there stood

A decaying stump,

Nondescript vestiges

Of the glory that was.

The old trashcan still stood mutely by,

The way it did when I last drove up.

But methinks, with her gone,

The trashcan too has lost its purpose

And is counting days

To rust-riven dissolution.

No vehicles pull over now;

No happy trippers pose for a selfie,

Where once there was

An endless battery of admiring eyes.

What killed her, I know not.

Man’s unscrupulous greed?

Or some cantankerous cancer within?

Whatever be the cause,

There’s a lump in my throat

As I stand desolately where once stood

The prettiest tree I ever saw.

How many years had she been there

I can hardly hazard a guess,

Fascinating passers by

With the magnificence of her presence.

But she’s gone now,

Succumbing to ravages of time,

While I linger on, awaiting my turn.

By Thomas Thottungal