Valley Of Illusions Poem by PREMKUMAR C N

It was a lonely ride on a holiday
To the valley in the woods nearby
Just for some moments of solitude
To calm the mind's tide

The day was dim and cool
Enough to soothe the soul
Sun in the west was red and dull
The wind was slow to cause a lull

A hunter was coming out of the woods
Holding a gun and a bird in his hands
He winked at me and smiled in muse
And said 'beware of the ghosts'

Superstitions folks, I thought a while
Yet I replied him with a smile,
'Yea, I am in search of some lovely ghosts! '
He laughed at me and walked in gusts.

The breeze was carrying mist around to chill
The woods and valley seemed so still
No bird was singing, no beast was roaring
And down there the lake seem sleeping

The image of the sun in the lake was dull
What! , In the grass there sat a girl
Dressed in white like the mist around
But with a red scarf around her head.

She sat there still like a marble statue
Setting sun shrouded her in a golden hue
Darkness crept the haze in haste
And the valley dimmed from sight

From the back, I heard a ‘bang'
Taken aback, I turned back
That must be from that hunter's gun
He was there shooting something down

The bang disturbed the calmness there
Noises of birds filled everywhere.
I looked for the girl but there was none
In that twilight where was she gone?

In a while, the wind was getting wild
Was she a ghost? I thought a second
Anxiously I scanned the place for her,
But only a red scarf was floating in the air

The scarf was slowly flying away in the wind
And in the faint twilight far it faded,
Was she an illusion in some trance?
But the scarf was proof she was there

Gently I returned thinking all a dream,
Yet thoughts were flowing like a stream