WHEN TREES BECOME NAKED
The seasons that Nature brings to me are as per Her wish, not mine. What I have learnt, all along my life, is to accept them as my reality… gladly, with my open arms. Yes, I have found ways to deal with the scorching heat of a summer and with the biting cold of a winter… I have also learnt how to sail through heavy downpours…
I know that summer is
not there to stay for ever, neither winter, nor monsoon. Life lessons have
taught me to ‘bear’ with the seasons however difficult they maybe… and hope for
a better season to come. When leaves drop and trees become naked, I don’t lose
faith in the trees and cut them off… I trust in them… wait for the new season
to come, the leaves to come… the trees to wear glory, all over again…
Similarly, when the
night is starless
and the moon is
not seen, I don’t lose faith in the sky…
I
wait for the new nights to come
and bring me back my stars and the moon,
all
over again… And, they do; yes, they do!
Like the seasons and
the stars outside, the seasons and stars inside my heart, too, are not there to
stay for ever and ever… Happy times fade to make way for gloomy ones… Hope
makes way for despair… My smile, time and time again, goes into hiding and it
looks all dark along the valleys of my heart… Dear ones seem far, too far… and,
friends, suddenly, seem out of reach… I wonder, if there is a tomorrow… If what
is in hand is what is in store for me – final… “Should I cut off the naked
trees?” I ask, “Should I jump off the board?”
So, the seasons and the stars inside my heart are supposed to
be exactly the way the seasons and the stars outside are…
They are supposed to
change… and, they are supposed to keep me how I am: ever wonder-struck… ever
hopeful, zestful and, yes, grateful.
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: Abhishek Iyer
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--- Ujwal