That winter the north wind blows

That winter the north wind blows;
his lost heart too frozen to feel
the dazzling tunes of ice and fire as all they wow

Next as the breezes of rebirth follow;
colors, crops, and carnivals light up this world but
all this surrounding joy, his frozen heart barely thaws

He cuts and polishes the uncut gems for show;
As the parasite of a family host on him, he wonders
Only if cancer was as trivial as their imaginary money woes

That summer the loo flows;
Memories of waterfalls, beaches and
of the sun, sand castles, drenched dances and drunken rows

As the monsoon creeps on its toes;
he hums to her hospital playlist and
clasps her portrait as the rain lashes his forlorn brows

As the cool winds again start to flow;
And the day becomes shorter and pleasant
he paints gangues scraped off their gems in melancholy's throes

That winter again as the north wind blows;
At her grave, up he shows and sees on it
a lone lily bloom, smiles, as his heart a bit more thaws

                           - Aurovind Acharya