Forever Lost

Forever Lost

(After 50 years, the face of my village has changed. Some were lost forever)

Sixty short years had passed – magic.

So much have changed – nostalgic.

Many childhood friends and relatives had passed along.

Only their deep and fond memories remain strong.

Even the sky and the mountains that once were blue

Are now somehow of different hue.

Fifty years ago they held me in awe.

Shrouded in mystical stories – a lie.

Spurned with tales of the supernatural,

Home of the mythical warriors immortal.

Somehow now, the mountains are nearer.

Somehow, they aren’t as high for sure.

Somehow, they are not that blue anymore.

Has Earth shrunk and fallen sick of sorrow?

Once they stood majestically.

Guardians of our ancestral land eternally.

Once they looked like an invulnerable fort.

Keeping out enemies of sorts.

Today they looked ragged.

An old man overspent - tired.

Scarred by a century of intrusion,

Uncaring brutality emboldened.

Left scars unhealing,

Barren and void it bring

Choking.

Silent.

Lonely.

Alas! Where is the youthful beauty

That I once behold, really.

Where are the calls of the hornbills,

The barking of deers shrill.

The cry of the gibbons?

That once the jungle enlivened?

They all had long since disappeared.

Over fished, over hunted and speared.

Indiscriminate clearing of the jungles.

Are also contributing factors to the bungle.

Sad loss we never could regain.

Can we hear the calls of the gibbons again?

Or the calls of the deers and the hornbills?

Maybe, but not before the forest we heal.

And return them to the sanctuary we steal