Postcards from nowhere

Days and nights stretched out endlessly

As she sat in a corner, listlessly

Knees drawn to her chest, a vacant gaze

The world outside whizzed by in a haze

She occupied her corner wishing she could

Perish without a trace- at least that would

Put an end to her misery, stem the torrent

Of guilt and anger that continued to torment

Her- ever since that calamitous day when

She and her friend had the accident-

It was a regular day in their high school lives

Bored of studying, they had gone for a drive

In the New England winter, the roads were treacherous

 

Glazed with ice, but she was not nervous

Her inexperience, alas, cost both the girls

Her car skidded, the worst nightmare unfurled

Her friend lost her life, she escaped barely hurt

Physically, but her mind just became inert-

To the world she was living, but deep within

She had lost her soul to atone for her sin..

Guilt plagued her, gnawed at her constantly

Hollowed her out, no hope she could see..

Her life, her career plans, all were derailed

She felt in her life she had already failed

Counseling, psychiatric visits were of no avail

What afflicted her actually, no therapist could nail…

**

One day she noticed at the window sill 

Of the corner where she would sit still

A postcard with the picture of a landscape serene

Saying “Do something!”- she took that to mean

This was a sign from her lost friend in some weird way

She gathered all her strength, got out that day

But retreated back to her shell soon after that

And in her dusty corner again she sat

Until the next week, when at precisely the same hour

There appeared yet another postcard

Saying “Do something!” yet again

She did not let the warning go in vain

She ventured out further, talked to a human being

Things she had forgotten, she again started seeing

Week after week, the postcard appeared mysteriously

On her desk, each time she looked at it curiously

(They were not from her parents, that much she knew)

Each time they inspired her to venture out anew

Gradually some semblance of normalcy returned

She started working, college credits she earned

Finally, years later, she was back on track

The weekly postcards now made a tall stack

The message was the same, it never differed

Yet every message had her towards action spurred

**

On her graduation from college, she did see

A special visitor cheering for her vigorously

She was astounded, for the woman who satin the audience

Was the mother of her deceased friend- 

Suddenly she understood the mysterious origin

Of the postcards, they were being given

To her by this mother who had lost her daughter

(She had assumed this woman hated her!)

 

As she tried to thank her friend’s mother

Both had tears flowing, they tried to comfort each other 

“I lost my daughter, she cannot return, but I

Did not want you to lose yourself while alive

My child is gone, but you could honor her memory

By being what she thought you both would be…

When I heard you were in a state of stupor

I knew I had to somehow break your fever

Thus the postcards on which my grief-stricken mind

Could not, despite trying, any better words find

I decided to pursue this tenaciously

And you brought my efforts to fruition graciously.”

**

The guilt that she felt would continue

To haunt her lifelong, perhaps that’s true

But she has succeeded in moving past that day

Hope she never goes back, for that I do pray.