Poem -18
The Long Absence
By Dr. Baijnath Gupta
Some absences are
Felt so deeply
That you cannot escape them.
They go with you even
To the place
Where you seek to
Relieve yourself
Of them.
They move with you
In the narrow lanes
With a boy who used to move there
Fifteen years ago.
Their feet treading with
The same emotions
On the path that has been
Waiting for you for so long.
You stand under the trees with them
That lower their arms
To receive you and them
In their embrace with
Tears of joy.
The breeze gathers around you to caress
Your cheeks softly
Healing the scars of time
And blow around to spread the news of your arrival with them.
And in the evening
A callused hand marks two foreheads with a tilak
And tears from two eyes
Fall on four cheeks
To see you off with a word
To visit her again
Ere she departs.
~ Dr. Baijnath Gupta is Associate Professor & Head, Department of English, DSN Postgraduate College, Unnao. He has edited an anthology of poems and has published 30 research papers in national and international journals. A collection of his poems titled Echoes of a Sensitive Heart has been published in 2025.
