The Peepal Whisper Poem by Sumita Jetley

Beneath the sky, where echoes rest,
In a house of stories, warm and blessed,
Two souls sat by the lantern's glow,
Sipping chai as time moved slow.

A colonel, sharp yet soft of gaze,
With years behind but heart ablaze,
A soldier, young with words untold,
Both wrapped in moments rich as gold.

Between them lay the scent of tea,
Of cardamom, dusk, and memory,
Yet in the hush, beyond the door,
The past still stirred, it called once more.

For at the window, small yet wise,
A peepal leaf, green as sunrise,
Grew through stone, defying age,
A whisper penned on nature's page.

"Sir, they say it holds the past,
The ones who lived, the ones who passed,
A voice that lingers in the breeze,
Between the roots, between the leaves."

The colonel smiled, his gaze now far,
Beyond the hills, beyond the stars,
For in the rustle, soft and low,
He felt the ones he used to know.

And so they sat, in knowing peace,
No orders barked, no war to cease,
Just two men bound by fate's design,
Between the world of now and time.

And as the soldier shared his lore,
The tree still grew, as trees have before,
For roots will hold and hearts will keep,
The tales we tell, the souls that speak.