[SMC Magazine ‘নোঙর’] The Homecoming : Nasreen Taher

Prologue: This is the story of a sailor whose obsession towards braving the untamed Oceans had drifted him away from those near and dear ones who yearned for his closeness. His only child nurtured from infancy to teens and then to youth with his visitor father in life. Finally, he realised his thirst for the Oceans must cease and he must return to his family. Whether the time of his homecoming was right or not….and whether he did justice to his family….I shall leave it upon my readers!

Home …..
By no means found anchorage in your spirit!
Harboured unfathomable in your psyche ….
Flourished the Ocean emerald…

A homely Life for you ….
Seemed only a very universal existence…
The pledge of an ordinary Man.

Sweet words of sharing life together,
Were oft-returning reverberation
For the yearning ears
Of your life-partner and infant.

The path that you walked by
They stared on…. with desire !
But your footsteps trampled and crushed
Their trance
That you would revisit soon.

Your toddler ….
reached his youth , from teens
All his slip-ups and the fun —-
You watched,  like a visitor!
Your promises of the final homecoming—
Were nothing more than oath obliging.

Sailing through the countless waves
You, at last, remembered:
That lovely home,
Your lonely partner and your child,
And at once…
Your hasty mission brought you back
Home at last!

“Why is it so quiet in here
And where is everyone?
…where is my child? My wife?
This house is shrouded by Silence!’’

Your sighs revisiting you, Seafarer
The congregation of apparition….
Encircling your existence,
Like a mirror without reflection
A death cold silence horrified you!

Someone directed you to your wife’s new home,
You were taken aback! Now this home
Belongs to her only …. You are alone!

Her  epitaph had the lines
engraved ‘’For thee I lived, Seafarer,
For thee I yearned for months and years!
Alas!
I shall never be able to reach you again,
So Fate brought You to me.”

PDF Version [Published at SMC Magazine “নোঙর”  May 2014]

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[As a casual author, Nasreen Taher’s writing focuses on observation of life and current affairs. Concentrating on tuning her observation into poetry, she has authored two poetry books in Bangla, and a number of articles which have been published in the popular English Dailies of Bangladesh. She hold an M. Phil degree in English Literature from University of Dhaka. A mother of two children and wife of Ghazi Abu Taher (17), Nasreen has been residing in Singapore since 2008 with her family.]