An Enexpected Evening Poem by Renu Beri

Standing beneath a gulmohur tree,
The young man looked around him,
Tense and deeply brooding was he,
In the late evening, dark and dim.

Quickly reading the simple message,
‘Come tonight under our favourite tree, '
He rode through unknown, secret ways,
Completing the tiring journey anxiously.

His horse galloped fast and confident,
Terrible pictures filled his imagination.
What caused a girl so shy and diffident
To send such unusual communication?

He smiled broadly as he remembered,
When he had seen her glance shyly,
He noticed as she timidly trembled,
Her beauty heightened by simplicity.

In a silvery white dress of soft muslin
He recollected seeing her in light dim.
Surprised as his powerful imagination,
Saw her daintily stepping towards him.

His furious heartbeats on the rise,
He felt his union with her soul,
Her twinkling, mesmerising dark eyes
Nervously appealed for his approval.

‘I have finally left my parents' home,
Forever to be with you, my love.
It was a difficult decision to make,
To break all ties of my childhood.'

He couldn't take his eyes off the maid.
His fears seemed so foolish and inane
‘What an unexpected evening! ' he said
As he regarded her with love insane.

They lay beneath colourful branches
That made a bright canopy overhead
The horse looked at them approvingly,
As all worldly inhibitions were shed.

They galloped towards the rising sun.
The road they took new and less known,
Away they rode from social darkness,
Towards a sparkling dawn of their own.