Who cried at night?
It was long years ago
When my father had to go
Leaving the quarter after he retired
And then a house we required.
From Kolkata we move to Darjeeling
Where are among the Pines and cooling
Atmosphere we sheltered in a house
So silent that we could hear a mouse.
The days where always windy and dry
And the sun was hardly seen in the sky
And the nights where shivering, sighing sound
Of winds and howling among the deodars profound.
At night I did not come out
Nor did I hover about
Around the trees, as I was twelve years old
And was not at all bold.
The days passed smoothly
And I went to school regularly
My father also got appointed in a mall
And returned late when the night did fall.
One day it was night
The moon was not in sight.
I was waiting for my father at the gate
Because he was ins unusually late.
I shut the door and went inside.
And found the nature calm outside.
Then a strange sound I heard
Methought it must have been a bird.
I came to the backyard window
Opened it, the source to know
In the backyard, there was a room
That always remained in gloom.
To my surprise, the sound did not cease
Rather increased and did me tease.
It was not a sound but a cry
And of whose to know I didn't try.
About this I told my father
Who said:'You neednot bother.
The cry would've been of a prey
Caught by any predator hardly seen in day.'
But the next day in the evening
I got frightened hearing the bemoaning
Cry. I wanted it to ignore
But didn't and opened the back door.
Suddenly, the wind started blowing hard
And tall trees tossing in the backyard.
I banged the door behind
And sat with a clear mind.
At night as my father came
I told him and he said the same.
At midnight the cry started again
I woke and saw it was drizzling rain.
Through the window I noticed someone's loom
Proceeding slowly to the opened back-room.
A nd I spent a sleepless night
Without putting out the light.
The next morning, the door was closed found
With footsteps leading to the woods around.
I ran in and took my father who gazed
Those steps being utterly amazed.
My father told the truth revealed by the people
That once there had lived a young couple
Unhappy with his married life
Here the husband had murdered his wife.
