The Sunday Afternoon

Is that Melancholy never leaving you away?
Or the loneliness bothering you by any chance?
Stray, your mind wouldn’t get along.
Roll up your sleeves and get to the bazaar.
Walk aimlessly, through the crowded streets..
Search nothing, exploit your vehemence.
Look and observe, people around you.

The age old buildings rest in the state of dilapidation,
cars could be rushing if streets wouldn’t be jammed.
The long wait near the level crossing,
there goes the train whistle…
A child holding a flower, sitting beside her mother
in a bus and questioning her about the flower endlessly…
Couple of old men carrying piles of goods in handcarts,
crossing a jammed street under the scorching July sun.
A ragpicker laying in a pavement, resting under a tree,
eating hot cross buns with her two little children.
Of the stores and open markets in the Sunday afternoon,
the road vendors, the greengrocers, the huge bazaar,
27/7 working gym for those fitness fanatic breed,
the overcrowding salon, the beautiful bakery outlet,
two adjacent fashion boutiques and a retail plant shop.
Couples shopping in the exorbitant malls,
some are on dates in the vintage cafes and
the others filling up the bars and lounges for the night.

There is so much to see, the grace of busyness
in every corner of the city.
Some may look bizarre, some real,
some obnoxious, some following normalcy…
every single person is busy, some are engaged in working
whereas some are enjoying, probably some are napping too!
And there is You,
who is busy thinking how ugly your face can appeal?

Slowly, the blazing sun will silently fade into the horizon,
the bright yellow sky will turn crimson red
and soon the twilight will fall,
the sky attempting to grow darker and darker
until the night with starts and the moon shall appear.
If you were to swipe bodies with another individual,
how would you like to spend your Sunday Afternoon
on a day like this?

The beholder of this mesmerizing sight,
to experience the beauty of a busy Sunday afternoon
prevails over this melancholic person,
absorbed by the world,
so here they should stand quietly to see through…
“If I could change one thing about you, I’d change your eyes,
exchange them for mine so you could see what I see when I see you.”

You must wait,
till the day gets over.

~Navaparna

Day 23 of Na/GloPoWriMo 2023.

Prompt 23 source: https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-three-9/
here’s our optional prompt for the day! Start off by reading Arvind Krishna Mehrotra’s “Lockdown Garden.” Now, try to write a poem of your own that has multiple numbered sections. Attempt to have each section be in dialogue with the others, like a song where a different person sings each verse, giving a different point of view. Set the poem in a specific place that you used to spend a lot of time in, but don’t spend time in anymore.

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