Hamartia Poem by Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih

Girl of the highway!
I remember you yanking my nose
calling it “a cute duck nose”.
I remember you carrying off my watch
to force a fond chase
and hiding my tweed jacket
so I wouldn’t leave you.

Girl who was vexed because I cringed
to the rear with every push to the fore!
Girl who was undone by an old lascivious dog!
What has happened to you since that hateful night
when the spiteful wife abused your deceived innocence
and her mongrels whipped you with a broom
to render you luckless forever?

Does your voice still wrench echoes from the stones?
Do your words still hurl challenges at the wind?
Is your spirit still free and lively
as the stormy skies of the black month?
And your charm, does it still deliver drunks
crying at your feet with a flip of your buttock?

Tonight, a cheerless longing heaves my heart
like a pair of bellows, raw grief heaps curses
upon my perfidious soul.

Could we have lived our dreams
had I taken you as my own?

Perhaps, though people have called you a whore
from ignorance and malice, you would still
be consoled if I tell you that I too had taken a wrong turn.
Perhaps, you would still fondle my nose if I read out
my heart as a bedtime story.
Perhaps, in the twilight of our lives, we could still
rekindle that youthful fire.

Woman who truly loved me!
I no longer have my doubts about you.