My Girlfriend
(Found 36 Years Later)
by Ananya S Guha
A pebble in dark
school’s steps in dark
after movies.
Lemonades, girls from
neighbouring school,
plaited hair. Glances and side looks
Letters passed slyly. Coquettish
looks across the hall, eluding the GRIM
Nun’s strictures.
My new girlfriend
good figure, Anglo Indian.
School days over.
My petite girl lost.
Thirty-six years later
she writes on social network,
”Do you remember?”
I meet her in a guest house.
”Has he changed?” husband mumbles.
No, no. She has. She is grandma.
Lost and found. Thirty-six years later.
Like me. Still alive.
The mantra of finding.
Her face, niggling photo frame
in shaded corner of mind.
Ponytails. Grey frock.
IMAGE: “Middle Ground” by Tara Turner. Prints available at fineartamerica.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ananya S. Guha lives in Shillong in North East India. He has been writing and publishing poetry in English for 31 years.
Silver Birch Press 