Lost Plants Of Tradition Poem by Akham Nilabirdhwaja Singh

Eleven years ago,
while rambling in my car
along the bank of Iril river
at Kongpal Moirangkampu,
a serene countryside
I spied Ureirom plants growing there,
their flowers blooming.

Long ago in our agrarian society
their fruits dyed women's clothes pink-
done indigenously in every household
by the womenfolk.

Now that old art has faded
year by year with time
and the plants, once grown
in abundance are no longer seen.

Next day, in scattering showers,
with a camera I went there
and captured photographs
of the plants long unseen,
wondering how they grew there
while absent elsewhere.

Today, after eleven years,
when I strolled there again
the ureirom plants were gone
among the riverbank's weeds -
Once women's favorite,
now out of fashion,
neglected, nowhere to be seen.