Amidst the Pages

Decades later...
The old man opened his school notebook,
not knowing what lay within.
Therein he found a withered rose,
with pages that had lost their ink.

The stem had turned into mesh,
the red petals, now brown...
The old man, too farsighted to read;
too colourblind to be worried,
treasured the wilted rose like a crown.

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Colours are added,
In discoloured frame of minds !

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चितेरा था मैं कभी,
रंग उतार दिये इतने
कागज़ पर मैंने कि
ज़िंदगी मेरी अब
बेरंग हो गई ....

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