A Journey Poem by Preeth Nambiar

'The road to the fulfillment of love is hard and worn! Well, now listen to me, if you are so eager to find my abode you can follow the road in front of you, which leads through dense forests, hot deserts and steep hills! You may have to walk through the thick penetrating drops of rain or sometimes even without a dropp of water to quench your thirst, alone, but the distant winds would bring my melodies to soothe your soul! '

'When the roads embrace each other to confuse your direction, remember, I will leave my beautiful, fragrant flowers to show you the path! Follow the flowers as they would lead you to my abode! Collect those so that you can present it for me at the moment of our togetherness. Let the beautiful petals colour the moments, let the fragrance of those dance in the air! Oh, my beloved come to me! '

And then I started my voyage! The steep hills didn't hurt my legs; the sharp pebbles didn't prick my feet! When the hot winds of the desert left me thirsty, my longing for her quenched my thirst! When the rain turned into flood, I sailed up on her dreams! I could find flowers, beautiful flowers, withered on my way. Collecting those, long way I travelled, a long way to my beloved with her name trembling on my lips!

It was night! I painfully realized that I can no more move. I felt darkness penetrating into my senses and then beyond! Alas! Here comes my end!

A beautiful dawn! Like that from a dream I wake up to light! There is a tree in front of me under which thousands of flowers are withered! Look at those flowers! They are the same I had been collecting throughout my voyage! Flowers that have heavenly fragrance, on the petals of which we can find all the colours of the universe!

'So you are here, my love' I heard her as the leaves of the tree trembled in soft, snowy wind! 'Come embrace me! Let me whisper on your ears, the tale of our lives, days of our togetherness and the moments of our separation! I have been waiting here a life time, to take you across another birth! Oh my beloved, hold my hands! '

I stretched my hands to hold her thin fingers! It was cold, cold as snow!