And That Was Left Unseen Poem by Jayita Basak

A mammoth metal box had a mammoth metal lock
Securing since years it screamed Clanked on the entresol.
I was seeing it for the first time in our house
As if it was an unwanted loving antiquity grey.
That showed its stillness till I was calm.
I broke all the rules of silence and security, entered by its gates.
Fifty years old postcards smelled of old ink, vanillin and faint lignin;
Some gold, a photograph of a lady in black
And a photograph of mine in white.
I ran to my Baapi and asked what it was and why it was.
He said with heavy eyes and broken cords, 'Maa, she is your mother. This is of her.
She died at a young age and that was left unseen.'
'Forever...'

- Jayita Basak