Sufia Khatoon

Yellow of Summer

Tread lightly least you

crush the yellow of summer

under your hasty steps,

If you were the leaf and I was

your leap of faith,

a curious hand would

have caught ourcurious fall.

Fingers reconcile with

old tales of blood bonds again,

One hurt, the other mourns in vain.

A child laughs at our childish fights,

an old hand, you seem

to hold when a boy has died.

An old clock starts ticking,

somewhere in a cultured home

where strangers meet.

I still look for your laughter

when eyes fall out of life.

Maybe someday we can

find the lost spring flowers under the trees,

running to catch them alive.

And you were right to say once,

We should live in the yellow of summer.

(First published in Rhythm Divine Poets Anthology, Volume 1, 2016)

About Sufia Khatoon:

Sufia Khatoon, a PR and Event Organizer by profession, is also a social activist managing Our World Our Initiative, a social and philanthropic initiative to help the underprivileged, focusing on helping old people, children and orphans who are forced to beg or earn on the streets. As an art curator of Art Fair and artists she has exhibited her works in eminent galleries in Kolkata like Mirage Art Gallery, Birla Art gallery, Academy of Fine Arts, Chemould Art Gallery, ICCR, Shrimati Art Gallery with more than 20 groups shows in 2 years. Her paintings and illustrations have been published in many international online magazines and poetry books. She has been featured in India Positive, CNN IBN, Femina, Telegraph, Times of India, Taaza TV and various online portals, magazines and websites as an artist and social activist. She is often called to judge art and creative writing competitions, as a speaker on social issues in news channels. As a poet she gives her beautiful renditions in various events in Kolkata.

She has been writing from an early age and has worked as a student journalist in The Telegraph in School for more than 10 years. She is an avid reader and blogger. She manages the blog Being Bookworms which focuses on covering book related events, news and interviews of authors and poets in Kolkata.Her poetry has been selected for various national and international anthologies namely Magnitude by IIA, Umbilical Cord by Rejected Stuff, Mélange by Poets Corner, Kaafiyana of Delhi Poetry Festival, Create2inspire initiated anthology The Dawn Beyond Waste, Avadh Literary Festival anthology 'Lifenaama", Red Balloon Anthology, Hall of Poets, Colours of Refuge, Messages for Afterlife, World Healing and World Peace and many more.She is a lyricist working with NGOs on social documentaries.Her short stories have been published in various anthologies like 25 Strokes of Teen Life by Grapevine, Seasons of Love,Myriad Tales and Life Sundae, Wordweavers,etc. She is the co-founder and joint coordinator of Rhythm Divine Poets group which focuses on promoting poetry, organizing creative writing workshops and featuring poets live on radio. It's about poetry reaching out to people and poets evolving. She is currently working on her poetry book.