Sitting On The Bank Of The River Poem by shakil ahmed

Sitting on the Bank of the River


I sat motionless on the bank of river
Remembering by-gone days
Murmuring streams were glittering
In the glowing sun rays

Back in St. Joseph’s church wall
Dogs were barking
Sitting on the side stone
Fisherman was lurking

Evening girls were walking with slow steps
Suddenly I heard the sound of a knell
I got terrified and thought
A sad story it would tell.

I got bewildered and thought
Some one would shrink from sight
Slowly and slowly her memory
People would forget quite.

For a pretty girl of sixteen
Was it the time to say farewell
She would never unfold her heart
Cause she would be buried in her cell.

‘T was in the village, near the church
Happily she had lived so long
In this mysterious world
She would never sing her song.

Some pigeons were flying over the church
Flapping of their wings
Disturbed my thoughts for sometime
And I terrified seeing the surroundings.

The fisherman came on the bank of the river
With his giant fish and jelly like loam
The sun was setting in the distant water
Evening stars were twinkling amid the gloom

The girl, who was meek and sober
Had gone to an unknown land
Leaving aside all her belongings
She had gone with an empty hand.

World would run with its accord
Some would shed drops of tears
Who were busy with worldly affairs
Suddenly trembled in unknown fears.

Suddenly a girl with her friend
Slowly came nearby
Quite unknown of the tragedy of another
Very soon whose story would die

I saw, they dug a grave for her
To rest in coffin forever
Her kith and kin wept and lamented
For she would come never

Burning candles and incense sticks
Would adorn the burial ground
For some days. After that
Nobody would step in her mound.

Shakil Ahmed.