SNOW MELTED IN ME

Snow melted in me; some memories-
When it snowed in Sunamullah,
Way back in late eighties,
That heaped under the eaves...
We dug the spades beneath
And made a burrow of fine white
We spread the pherans and sat
It was a nice niche, we stayed inside...
(I hardly remember any chill surface)

At noon Mother called out for lunch!
The rest of the day caught us for bird trapping
Via 'walwaesh,' 'Paejj, ' or 'Ph`ut'
We gathered them in a covey
Then released them at once
Seeing flying flock was our wonder,
From the gables of our homes...

In the scary corner of white night
Tales of 'Rantus' and 'Wannmuneu' were woven
While grandma was on 'Yendher'
Weaving and spinning the yarns.
After feeding fodder to the cattle
Boy came in a horrified look
He saw a beast near the barn
We apprehended a ''Rantus''.
And uncle continued his gothic tales
Which drowsed us awhile
Till creaking sound of the door
Jolted our state of inertia
And there's Mother to serve us Kehwa
And a night spent in sweet dreams of horror...

Following morning we hunted for the footprints
There were paws on the brittle snow.
Elders said it was 'Haput'.
We turned to the oozing icecles,
Hanging from the eavestrough
Of the thatched barns and thatched sheds,
We took them as syringes
And injected water into our skins...

The same water oozes out now
For we've lived our springs in winters!!!