Sweet sixteen
By- Dr. Nunglekpam Premi Devi
Independent scholar
Sixteen isn’t a number counting;
Sixteen! As I remembered most is,
Wonderful tricky sensitive and painful indeed;
I feel loving all that I embraced,
I feel alive fresh surrounding;
Blooming and sharing million emotions all I care,
Trees and birds and animals and grasses;
Friends and family and sisters and brothers;
River and ponds and leirak and leikai;
That lampak and that narrow street Chingkhei;
Fields and greenery paddy when in rain;
All airy and all calm and all poised.
I hear birds chirping,
I hear the sound of unseeing breeze;
I hear the echoes of the water brimming;
Overflowing and eloping with the freshet;
Spurting and spouting, cascading and rivulet ting;
So touchy and so engaging itself;
I profoundly kissing the air,
Tuning immensely through the woods;
Carrying enormous smiley textures,
Winning every soul pretty,
Fetching hundreds of appealing codes;
Knowing not what secret and what evil;
All’s happy, happy and loved.
Sixteen isn’t a number counting;
Sixteen! As I remembered most is,
Wonderful tricky sensitive and painful indeed;
I hate being watched over attitude;
I hate being followed after fascination;
I hate being saying ‘NO NO, You can’t;
I hate being focus surrounding where I am?
I hate being ‘distanced’ from love ones;
What a chance I ever had?
All securing and all watched over my moves;
Safer the best I could ever indoor.
I culture well, ‘behave’ along as I engaged;
Early to bed and early to rise,
I fashioned passionately ‘having’ lesser sharing;
No mistake counted for younger doers,
I sweep and I clean and I dance in the rain;
I sing in the tune of moos, echoing again and again;
And I breathe along the ducks, flapping wings;
Every dawn I start at peace mesmerizing,
Captivating distance temple bell sounds,
kang-kang, kang-kang, kang-kang, kang-kang
I enjoyed collecting ‘yongchak mapal’ adoring morning dew.
Oh! I hate when ‘he’ scolded,
Oh! I hate when ‘he’ beat me;
Misunderstanding and blaming, dos and don’ts;
I hate when I am unloved;
I am sick when I am in pain;
I hate when ‘he’ controls me most;
I hate when ‘he’ defines my dresses;
I hate when ‘he’ stare with uncause;
Remembering! I deserving erasing all,
Sweet sixteen! lives’ a consoling beauty;
Still I loved most whatever his Brotherly care.
