Poetry

By

Saru Pokharel

Fear

When the day has swooned and the sky lightens with moon,

From the core of the forest, now she’ll be crying soon,

With the howl of the wolves and squeaks of the bat,

You’ll hear, shrill noise of horror, you thought you never had,

They say behind the woods, lives a girl with gray hair,

Her eyes glow in night, in the murk she was bare,

Some said she was left in the woods, in a cave,

Others said, she flushed with river and landed to the grave,

As the night gets older, she dances on the branch,

Hearing her hum gets you to the trance,

To the land of the gloom and wail in the air,

And the chant goes all wrong, when she smells your fear,

The chiming of wind bells, those are hanging to the door,

The crackling from the closet has started hitting floor,

And buzz from the woods, that is getting loud,

From the window stares the moon, hidden behind the cloud,

Then gush you feel on the neck as she whispers in your ear

“Don’t look back! I’m standing right here.”

Lesson

The dreary night, unlasting fight has gone and brought a new day along,

The fog in my eyes has lifted so high, and blurry dream now seems so strong,

And there I see! Oh there I see! The bright path which was meant to be,

Which I desired, lord has admired, for all those nights when I would plea

Not known for a while, long lost and fragile, so vain and shaken I had been,

In the pain and the clash and deeds of abash, but I held myself firm and keen

The tremors the fails, and the steps on nails, the lord has tested me and seen

Now my aisle is eased and view looks clean, demons crushed who lied within

So, that I see it clear, all the things I fear and hear the agony fade and run,

The flashes of throb and the pain I’ve borne and the prize I’ve got in return

Saru Pokharel

Saru Pokharel is a writer from Nepal. She is recently doing her Masters in Environment and Natural Resources from Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Kavre. She has an adept hand in both prose and poetry.