//Mask-4//

I was in class two then

when the boy sitting beside me

winked me with a smile

for a look, inside his bag

he opened for me

to see the darkness he had from home

To see the darkness he had in at home

the story happened some forty years ago

when darkness was the only wall for me

I wanted to cross

crossing

for the masked man

across the wall

who never made himself visible to me

in the light

once visited the wall side

with his mask on

and vanishes again

into nothingness

and created darkness

for me

so I wanted darkness

A bagful of darkness

for the man

for the mask

for the wooing horror

at the world other side

that had hid him

in the darkened tales

in the series of my mother’s tales

frightful proposals

That could cross

Without a mask

She told me

one wouldn’t have that road.

The quest won’t end up

with remaining light

darkness I quested

Hence For the road or mask

perennially, everyday day

inside the classroom made up

with light excerpts

of the day

Yet I saw a road led to

the school bag

stuff of darkness and a mask

I stole.

Then I was mere a child

with hues and cries

for that mask or road

Thus I return to my bags

my schooldays
which buries my childhood

along with a drawing

on a slate

of the mask.