Memory Of Days Lost Poem by Anil Kumar Panda

It follows me like an apparition
In the crowded street of the town
In the buses and trains and live
With me within freshly white washed
Walls of my flat. It bears the
Marble size fruits though old age
Has gripped its branches as an
Incurable disease. With its awesome
Growth it still swings as a creeper
In the fragrance laden wind of spring.
Those toothless mouths with innocent
Smiles of children still chew raw
Tobacco as hands wave off flies from
Bare bodies in its shade on sultry
Afternoon of summer.Like a mammoth
God it still stands for those nubile
Lasses keeping fast for grooms and
Light lamps at its feet as evening falls.
In the collapsing enclosure of my
Heart I hold the old banyan as a mute
Witness to a world I lost years ago.