Shyamolima Saikia's poems

 Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 3, Number 2. November 2020. ISSN: 2581-7094

THE KOPOU (A PROSE POEM)

                                                                             --- Shyamolima Saikia

 

An orchid, which comes into full bloom announcing the arrival of spring when the cuckoo too, trills an arietta, without which every arbour in an Assamese household is barren, the kopou is the harbinger of hope and love. Come bohag bihu and the young damsels clad in mekhela sador ready to groove to the rhythm of the dhol and the pepa, shall pine for the kopou as much as their love, to weave it round their delicately tucked buns.

This bihu too was no different for her while she waited for her beloved to return home.  As if on a recce, she had been keeping a special eye on the kopou plant right from the day the tender florets appeared on its nimble stem. Days hastened as she could wait no longer and the moment came when it was in full bloom resembling a feathery tassel. She had carefully culled it but waited for him to decorate it in her hair. Her heart fluttered as she anticipated his arrival. But much to her chagrin, this wait lingered but her eyes frantically kept searching the hazy horizon. Hours drifted into days, days into months, but he didn’t return. The kopou lay stranded in a quiet corner, this time adorning no tresses, the tangled buds splitting up and giving way to a withered and putrid mass. While in a distant land many miles away, the rumble of footfalls could be heard accompanying a freedom song…

 

(N.B. Bohag bihu is a harvest festival of Assam, the dhol and pepa are traditional Assamese musical instruments, the mekhela sador is the traditional dress worn by an Assamese woman)