Fading out

I see the lights one moment,
and then i see them fade out,
one moment i think i'm there,
and then it turns about!!
That sweet boy from yesterday,
who gave me his heart,
that old friend from the town,
with whom i would not part!
the old man from the street
who always held me so dear,
i was told he died of cancer,
sometime last year!

The delivery-boy from the store,
who smiled each time I left him change,
hawkers, waiters, mechanics,
its all coming back now, Strange!
Lamp-posts, bus-stands, barricades,
fences, windows, walls!
faces from my childhood,
board-games, gadgets, dolls!!
It's all out there in the smoke,
all so far out and beyond
dear people, happy faces,
old jokes, memories all so fond!

Out in the smoke like old scars,
like toys dragged across the floor,
like footsteps ..
on the wet sands of young hope,
like wreckage on an abandoned shore!
Out in the smoke,
like the distant light of an approaching vessel,
like the forgotten sound of a familiar laughter,
like the broken strings of an old bridge,
hanging from that disowned trestle ..

Enveloping this tattered body,
this battered, shattered soul,
this rusty old bit of a heart,
existence enveloped in smoke,
smeared like with kohl!
Sweet-love enveloped in distrust,
Sweet-life smudged with doubt,
and all i see is the smoke now,
for the lights are fading out!!

Simin Akhter, This Morning