There was a time, long long ago~ঔ There was a time when I had still the strength to be an oak uphill sieving stars with unshaken hands miles afar the dark of wastelands No matter how high it was, I was up to climb; fazed by no pitfalls nor birdlime; there was a time. No hails no rains could squelch my fire my flames seldom failed to respire as frost furled a trembling rockrose my sunned breath tingled the haze nose racing the warbles of wind thru russet wheat grains like gypsy cranes I was, tamed by no hails no rains. With sleek moonlight cribbed in my ribs, pecking dew drops off kestrels' nibs I flashed mid tangled wisps of scuds while rainbow crowned candytuft buds and on the ocean lap I dreamed away the night snuggled in the arms of a bight with sleek moonlight. Year after year thundered through me whirling like draft-blown confetti bit by bit, I strayed past the brink my greenness p a l e d in an ice-blink as autumn cut my roots like a serrated spear depleting me tear after tear, year after year. long long a. g. o, I was alive I had the vim, I had the drive to soar even with broken wings untill agony seized the strings ©Aarchi Advani Saini There was a time, long long ago~ঔ There was a time when I had still the strength to be an oak uphill sieving stars with unshaken hands miles afar the dark of wastelands No matter how high it was, I was up to climb; fazed by no pitfalls nor birdlime; there was a time.