Sushant Thapa
Only when I observed
The face of my grandmother
On the photo frame hung from
Years ago;
I felt alive.
Her face still young in the photograph;
Though her body is now not living
For ages.
There reflects a gratitude in me
When I see her face;
Ruddy, still young and free of wrinkles.
Wish I could share my problems with her
And respect her from the inner stream of
My heart.
I was actually listening to music
Even then I could starkly feel my mind caught in
Her face on the photo frame;
Those unafraid eyes
Looked into the feeble world
Of today;
The world that has been modernized in type
Written sentences
And viral news and videos.
No handwritten letters arrive to me
In the mailbox at my home.
The mailman has forgotten his way and
I want to write a letter to my grandmother.
I want to borrow her past
And obliterate mine.
I still feel the connection
Even after all these years
When I held her hands and took her for a walk
In the open verandah of my home
For the first and last time.
[Sushant Thapa is a Nepalese poet who holds a Master’s degree in English literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He is the author of two poetry books namely: The Poetic Burden and Abstraction published from India and England respectively. Sushant has been widely published across the globe.]