Poetry : A few Paces Apart

  

A Few Paces Apart

I lazily watched the trains go by

At Maidan Metro Station,

When there alighted a pleasant-looking couple

From a crowded train.

Unthinkingly, I tried to guess:

Were they bound in marital bliss?

The woman seemed to be in her thirties,

Dressed in plain lilac cotton.

Her hair lay rather carelessly strewn,

Framing a face of innocent grace;

And he, a tall and mature man,

Walked beside her in fast pace.

Then my eyes caught a telling glimpse—

The man was striding far ahead,

While she, in her flattering slippers,

Lagged behind with measured tread.

The guess I made, I think, was right:

Leaving his lady far behind,

They could only be a married couple—

                               Such clues are not too hard to find

Pankaj Mala Bhattacharya

10.09.1999