In the Twilight
She didn’t say a word!
But all of it he heard.
In the dark their eyes flamed!
All alone in a crowd.
Her hair, he did brush with,
His hand all gnarled and veined;
She did heave a sigh of anguish,
As if she had lost the skill to wish.
They sat huddled in the twilight,
Huddled in the dusk of their life!
A pair of wizened mortals living,
The fleeting images of the past.
Gone were the days of their blossoming,
Gone were the excitements of living,
Gone was the confidence from winning,
Their spirited wars and coveted glories.
They started young toiling with soil and tears,
A hut they had and it grew with passing years.
Amina, Rafeeq and little Abu were born,
And came the harvests rich and strong.
Happy were those days of honest sweat,
In a Hindu neighborhood they got respect!
Nature’s bounty, with all they did share,
and got cheerful welcome and lots of care.
The Khan siblings grew up frugal in comfort,
Yet they did have sumptuous meals in concert.
Rafeeq grew to be an officer in the Indian Army,
And, Amina was wedded to a youth from Ranchy.
Abu had grown to be a nice teenage boy,
In his school he was the first, yet he was coy,
All coveted his role in the drama about a seapoy,
which he did so well to everyone’s joy.
Some years gave plentiful yield early in May,
So the Khans saved some for a rainy day.
They dug up canals and watered the crops,
And built tanks to harvest rain on hilltops.
Then they started losing out on yield!
Abu stopped studies to work in the field!
Costs and pests doubled; beasts died like crazy!
And many men perished in communal frenzy!
The battle raged; the dead littered with streets!
The leaders brokered a hurry-burry peace!
Pain and fear nibbled everyone on and on!
The Khans survived but their spirit was all gone,
One day, a meeting was called to order.
Big companies were coming to their border!
More jobs and lots of money they promised!
Factories plundered the soil they had toiled!
The air and water got smelly so did their life too!
Few got jobs, but most had nothing much to do!
Machines pounded and clanked in chorus,
Trucks and wagons made noisy ruckus.
New creed called developers descended,
They smiled a lot and talked so sweet!
Those that got in their way quietly vanished!
Their land was taken and they were vanquished.
Abu and father packed their bundle,
At night they left their valley off to the town.
Rashid waited at the station to pick them up;
To his crowded flat they all went.
Three of Rashid’s kids and his begum,
Welcomed them with open arms and cheerful talk!
Abu got a job in the army garage,
And
Khan opened his small shop on their street!
Months ate up days and years, the months,
One day Rashid came in a coffin amid loud wails!
The Khan clan grieved silently and prayed,
Officers came put a wreath awkwardly stood and left.
Time healed the wounds; like it did always,
But more grief was in store for them!
Abu died in a fire wifeless and issueless,
Amina’s husband left her a childless widow!
There were other tragedies they had to brave,
Nature killed many and brothers killed brothers!
Death lurked everywhere reveling in ecstasy!
Ravaging people’s lives in a mad orgy!
The Khans were peace loving and law abiding,
They raised their kids to be kind and generous.
But their wretched fate was indeed reckless!
What did we do wrong the Khans wondered!
And wonder did they until their twilight!
Sun had lost most of its golden glory.
They sat huddled facing the twilight,
They sat thus defeated and sorry.
"seapoy" - Indian soldiers were referred to as seapoys by their British superiors during colonial era.
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