Toofan

Toofaan ...

The reckless carriage of the express train
Melted blue steely rails to buttery trail
A flash, a gleam, a sizzling whizz!
The trees kissed my heart and
Went amiss...
Everything nearby a merry whirling blur,
The far horizon like still life portraiture.

I recalled him then...
The boy with the mop that fringed
Winsome puppy dog eyes
In a chestnut mane
With full on black lashes like blinkers
That drove me insane!

His name was Toofan, a veritable whirlwind.
He was laid back psychedelic and
Quite deceptive...
LSD on speed or something like it!

He took my number.
And nailed my heart to his teenage needs.
My brother raged at me, growling
I would learn the hard way, how smooth boys
Like Toofan compiled sad little diaries.
That I would soon find out
He had my number, on his
Shoot-to-slay hit list.

I rode his cycle like a rodeo driver
Twistings and turnings every which way
He walked grinning his lopsided moppety grin
Rescued me when I fell into the high drain.

Now I'm grinning at my snot nosed friends
Toofan came from the wrong side of the tracks
Not à child from an exclusive colony like ours
But someone who's daddy was in business of some kind.

So my very best friend didn't say hello.
I mentally said to hell with you
My barbie doll pal.
Play with your tea set and fancy boarding school boys
I liked him far better, unruly hair and all.

Toofan turned on the heat of his charm
Afternoons spent awaiting sweet calls
Studies went haywire and my meek mom
Was soon on fire.

So happy was I to this day I can't say why!
Well it ends this way, soon enough
And far too predictably I chickened away!
Don't blame me for I was only 16
With perhaps, maybe the mind and heart of 13.
Toofaan was fun that I dived into with zest
To discover dismayed, the deep end
Of my shallow emotional pool!

Somehow someone who led a faster life than I
Was peeking at me curiously over the stile
The heart has borders which it always longs to cross
Borderlands are where it flips, into a mile high toss;
At least for me!

The train whistles in the wind and my enigmatic heart
Purrs with the sudden pleasures of its speeding up
Lanes by-lanes of quaint country side scenes
Recall plaited memories of picnics and treks through the high hills.

And immersing myself in the view from the train
I revisit places I have been to again
I can almost see his soft Cheshire cat act
The unctuous soft twinkly smile of cute tact

Well he had never been too happy to lend me his bike
And though I wanted to love I was only in like,
And young Toofan my old friend, life speeds  up midway
Like this train and my poem it feels the fast lane...
So I free up my clutter, and make room for space
release the heart to be itself, in its strangest of  ways.

Its funny how a genuine like lasts much longer than most love
In the heartland's unexpected grace it discovers,
True stuff of what's  more than enough.

I will carry a part of you and the place we never found
When we raced apart in divergent ways....
Life let's us dance but
Partners last according to pace.

Thinking about my friend who was soft and kind
Lazy and slow, a snail to unwind
And yet fast as Summer lightning
And so very very exciting !
This strangest of poem now meanders
to a remote station
And an abrupt wayside ending!

© Amrita Valan 2015