This Too Shall Pass by Sushant Kumar B.K.

I still recall-

Fierce tempests,

Trying to blow the roof

Parents, hooking the roof

Gripping tightly, 

Like roots clinging to the earth, 

Their belief: 

“This too shall pass."

And it did. 

Storms came, 

Storms went, 

Year after year, 

Each time, 

Contentment 

Upon our faces-

The storm- over.

Then a mansion stands,

The roof,  replaced

And walls resist tempests. 

But within, a different tempest-

Of time, 

Of frailty.

Parents: old and ill, 

Waiting, waiting, and waiting, 

Like Vladimir and Estragon, 

Waiting for Godot. 

Ears, exhausted, 

For footsteps, 

For laughter.

The moment-frozen. 

As the children, 

Went abroad,settled there. 

And the parents- old and ill, 

Whisper, “This too shall pass.” 

Longing for the familiar storm, 

To bring the children at home, 

Sushant Kumar B.K. is a Nepali poet, translator, educator and freelance writer who is from Gulariya, Bardiya, Nepal. He writes poems in English and Nepali languages. His poems have been featured in national and international anthologies, magazines, newspapers, and online portals. He can be reached at sushantacademia@gmail.com.]