the evenings gone by brought so much joy,

to the times i grew up and since i was a boy;

to the schooldays in the park and the endless chat,

watching the night flying to the sounds of gnat;

bitching, joking, singing against the wall,

if nothing else there was always basketball;

to the day despair, agony and the endless wait,

the day went by and evenings were never late;

no obligations, commitments or settlement of score,

that wonderful evening in the balcony of bangalore;

the vendors, the bargains, the corn and prays,

those pavements was our way for a few days;

and though I wince to the cruelty of broken chain,

One would so like to live them all over again;

would still hope to wake the sun to the flowering quince,

but the evenings have never arrived the same since.....
--
Neeraj