Grandma's Lullabies
July rains;
The spitting July rain
When tiny tadpoles leapfrog to life,
The smoky sky above
Obscures its pristine blue blanket – slowly
As the clouds above melt, I then remember
Grandma’s lullabies.
We used to shiver,
As the deafening thunder roared outside
We jumped on to Grandma’s lap;
Her frail body shook,
As we all jostled for comfort zones around her;
Our droopy eyelids slowly dropping curtains,
As we all go into a trance,
And Grandma’s lullabies took us far away into fairyland;
Long before we get embalmed
By her mystical tales in her wobbly voice;
The July rains have stopped now,
It’s November, and we had just bade autumn goodbye,
The clear blue sky has now managed
To pierce itself through its thick smoky blanket of clouds;
I search for Grandma
But she’s not there on her moth-eaten bed.
It’s July again, and I could still hear her
Hum those lullabies somewhere far away,
I yearn to be in her lap,
As the thunder roars once again,
Pelting hail on our supine roof.
I hid myself under a blanket,
And lay motionless till I realise daybreak.
About the poet:
Saikh Md. Sabah Al-Ahmed is a young poet, lyricist and columnist from Assam. He is a recipient of the Reuel International Prize for Poetry (2019) for Best Upcoming Poet from the North East. His poems have come out in Indian Literature (Sahitya Akademi), Kritya, Frequenze Poetiche (Italy), Asian Times (Canada), The Telegraph, The Assam Tribune, The Sentinel, etc. He presently teaches ‘poetry and creative writing’ at Cotton University as guest faculty, as well as English and Social Sciences at his alma mater – Don Bosco School, Guwahati. His poetry blog poetsabah.com is a storehouse of his beautiful poetry.