Seven Years After, A poem by Dr. Santosh Bakaya

Seven years after

 With a loudly beating heart,
once again, I entered my mother’s room
after a gap of almost three years.
The first thing that I saw
was her last silk saree remaining,
hanging from the hanger in all its elegant solitude.
Still reigning in regal splendor.
There were colourful pouches on the shelves
of her closet- big and small,
all suffused in her lingering, loving fragrance.
Things were the same,
exactly as she had left them. Well-organized and neat.
My heart missed a beat, as my eyes fell on something.

A bottle of perfume, [Yes, she loved perfumes!]
still waited for that touch long gone.
October had disappeared in the swirling mists,
but the sun-kissed palm trees outside
waited for the next dawn.
The gods in her temple also waited.

They waited,
without a wrinkle of frustration on their countenances.

I furtively sprinkled a few drops of her perfume on myself.
Did her gods see me committing this blasphemy?
But you see, the gloom was miraculously lifted
and the room was once again gifted
my mother’s fragrance
seven years after she had left the earth.
I could even feel the ripples of her quintessential mirth.
I blinked,
thinking was it the sound of her tinkling laughter
that I was still after?

Bio of the poet: Dr. Santosh Bakaya is an Academic, poet, novelist, essayist, TEDx speaker, She is the  winner of the International Reuel Award for literature for her long poem, Oh Hark! [2014], She has been critically acclaimed for her poetic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Ballad of Bapu [Vitasta, 2015], Recipient of The Universal Inspirational Poet Award [ 2016 ] instituted by Pentasi B Friendship Poetry and Ghana Government, she has also received the Bharat Nirman Award for literary Excellence[ 2017], Setu Award, 2018, [Pittsburgh, USA] ‘in recognition of a stellar contribution to world literature.’ She received the first Keshav Malik award 2019 ‘for her entire staggeringly prolific and quality conscious oeuvre’.

Her TEDxTalk on The Myth of Writers’ Block is very popular in creative writing classes.
She runs a very popular column, Morning Meanderings in Learning and Creativity website, which is now an e-book. Her other books are:
Where are the lilacs? [Poems, Authorspress 2016]
Flights from my Terrace [Essays , Authorspress , 2017 ]
Under the Apple Boughs [Poems , Authorspress , 2017]
A Skyful of Balloons [ Novella, Authorspress , 2018 ]
Bring out the tall tales [short stories with Avijit Sarkar, Authorspress, 2019 ]
Only in Darkness can you see the stars
[ A biography of Martin Luther King Jr, Vitasta , 2019  ]
Songs of Belligerence [ Poems , Authorspress, 2020 ]
Morning meanderings [ an e-book, 2020 ]
Her latest e-book Vodka by the Volga [Blue Pencil, October, 2020]