In the Shade of Sweet Memories
The beauty of our past is like a garland of flowers that we unfurl, blooming the beautiful memories in our minds.
Those moments, once so close, now drift like leaves in the wind, out of reach but never forgotten.
Please transport us back to the shade of the mango tree, that sacred place where time paused and joy was abundant like springtime flowers.
How far away it feels now, as if it were a dream fading in the sun light of morning?
Our heartbeats are staggered, once in perfect harmony now weighed down by the guilt of years lost.
Every breath sings with the pain of what is no longer, like a breath on the wind.
Will you not hoist the garland of memories upon your shoulders and take that away? Away from the now, away from the vacant spaces that reflect what used to be.
Take us back to that time when laughter filled the air, when the light was sweet and soft, like the scent of flowers.
We created our world with so little — just a pinch of soil and a plain flower, but it was enough.”
It was everything. A ripe mango that had toppled to the ground was a gift from the sky, and the wind, gentle and kind, blew all troubles away like a mother’s caress.
But now the wind seems cold and the earth below is hard and quiet.
The windswept songs we used to sing are now just whispers in the breeze, shadows of the joyful harmonies we knew in our times before.
We picked flowers as if they were tiny shards of joy, threading them into garlands we wore as trophies.
We whistled with the cuckoo bird, our voices soaring like the morning sun.
But the flowers have withered; the birds no longer sing our notes..
And even honey, once so sweet, is bitter in our mouths, bitter for we have lost.
We ruled, in our little universe, as kings and queens, prisoners of the royalty in the palace of our hearts.
But those days passed like a river running too swift to catch.
Now all that remains are those memories, heavy and bittersweet, like a flower pressed between the pages of a book — lst forever, but no longer alive.
Oh sweet, memories! please bring forth the flower palanquin.
One last time, take us back to that mango tree shade.
Allow us to touch the heat from these lost spots, even if only for a moment.
Based on the eternal poem of the great Malayalam poet, Shri O N V Kurup. His poetry has the heart of Kerala, inspiring sounds of love, nature, and time. Best known for his lyric immortalization and humanistic precepts, ONV Kurup’s work continues to touch a chord, finding in its profound beauty and simplicity a balm and inspiration.
