I remember the old woman with wrinkled lips,

Sitting under the gigantic tree, watching the passing ships.

As silent as a fallen leaf, she waited for the stars,

Which would fill the sky in an evening late like scars.

Frightened by her shattered visage,

I would avoid her ghost-like image

Unaware of her agony and pain

Her tears and smile like sunshine along with rain.

One day I was told that she was once a lady fair

Who was as free as water and air.

In her life then came the feeling of love

A soldier brave was her handsome beloved.

They wandered in gladness all over the hilly fields and meadows,

Never believing that fate had for them a whole world of sorrows.

The wide landscape stands a witness of their delight,

Their laughter filled the world day and night.

Then one night they heard the whistles of his mate.

Both knew what it meant, it was time to separate.

He went, leaving her standing, her face so pale,

She knew reality had struck, her life was no fairy-tale.

Days she spent, hating the glorious sun and the pale moon,

Please come, cried her heart, please come, please come soon.

She waited and searched but never saw the familiar face,

The din of war was here, never changing its pace.

She still waits, with hope in her eyes and heart,

Gone was the bitterness, now so peaceful and gentle-hearted,

Always staring at the vast, never-ending ocean,

No more a fair lady but an old woman.

Every time a ship leaves the port, she sits down with a sigh.

Who will tell her that her lover is in heaven so high?

She does not know that the battlefield is now a forest,

So many bodies underneath, believed to be at rest

<B>Priya Puran</B>