And the departure from intimacy was painful,
And the pain was so great;
No reason one could set,
And the two souls departed.
Fate is cruel;
They try but the reunion is far away,
Regrets at the past commitments
Remain. Remain memoirs of the past day,
A wasted romance, two wasted lives.

And all through they fought a battle-
Families and friends, neighbours and society-
Always they were enemies subtle.
Grey present, dark future,
Apprehensions at the coming day:
You love just once, and one chance you get;
'Oh! I missed it!' and you say.
How sweet were they together,
At the Eden, in arms of each other,
A fusion of everything- heart and soul and world;
An ecstasy like no other.
Gone is everything, and nothing remains,
But remain the legacies of a forsaken love.
Where you faltered, and how far you've come!
Oh! Death is so appealing, and destiny bereaves-
The undying promises are now dead,
The everlasting company never lasted:
The once dead love has again arisen-
Oh! But 'tis too late!
Far away you’ve come and farther still are to go,
A long way with sun overhead.
Go on, look not back, for pain is there,
Go on and a virgin life will welcome you.
-20\8\97, Calcutta-43

 COMMENTS :

When I knew nothing of Milton I had once read about a book called Paradise Lost. Later I came to hear of Paradise Regained. If I were to rename this poem then I would get such a great company. Aristotle had talked of catharsis in relation with tragedy. There is much controversy as to what catharsis might mean, but one of the possible meanings is education. And inspiration. The death and doom of tragedy leaves us with utter pessimism but the ending fills us with hope. The ending might not always be happy indeed. It might even end in death (as in King Lear) but implicit in death is the notion of rebirth.