A SHY ROMANCE

She peeped through the tiny crack of a door left ajar

She saw a tall figure greeted by her mother, enter the tiny bar

He looked dapper in his olive greens and his brushed back hair

He told the mother to get his usual and winked at her with a bare smile

He walked around the empty room and settled for his favourite spot

Her mother pushed open the door she was gazing through,

Startled; she fell back, but was saved by the old cupboard

But two jars just came crashing down because of her balancing endeavour.

Her mother screeched, and gave her a glare and told her  to clean the mess she had made.

Then distracted, strutted out of the room with a decanter of scotch.

It; what the man pleased.

 

Outside in the bar, the man peers through and sees a young girl with her head bowed low,

Wearing a gown, the colour of cream

With a frill too many and a bustier in place

Soft curls marking the contours of her face.

He shifts his gaze as the mother comes along, and thanks her for the scotch on the rocks.

 

He fiddles with the coaster and keeps looking at the door, yearning to see the girl for a little while more.

Behind the door, she is mortified and annoyed with her mother,

She thinks of his sharp nose and his faintly lined forehead,

She sighs; looks down and starts picking up the pieces.

 

He had first entered the bar, one warm day of a glorious summer.

A beret on his head,

a prance so majestic

eyes so intense.

 

An attraction at its best, she stole glances every now and then,

For each day of the summer he came.

She thought of him through night and dawn

Pictured herself with him

Walking and chatting through the mountainous environs.

In her head they had already fallen in love,

but in reality they had never uttered a word.

 

He had noticed her only recently,

she was the clumsy girl always shuffling for words with him;

earlier he had paid no heed,

but now he had begun to notice her a little too frequently.

 

He liked the way she smiled at her own blunders.

The way she walked; always with a sense of urgency.

He liked to look at her radiant face.

So innocent, so beautiful.

But today, he has merely caught a glimpse.

The door between them has been his enemy.

He loses hope after a tick to an hour.

Finding no excuse to stay, he finally gets up to leave the bar.

 

He turns back to look one last time,

The door opens and he sees her standing with a bottle of wine

He can barely contain his happiness and finally passes her his first full smile.

She blushes and smiles back with a twinkle in her eye.

its just the begininng of a shy romance

the beginning of a wonderful time.

 

-SONAKSHI BISWAS