It is finally time… the countdown is rapidly nearing its end. The last few days… the scrambles to tie up all loose ends, to wind up things those have stretched along. Three long years eddying to a date when I’ll board the plane back to Bombay. Much loved Bombay.
Yet, there is that tug at my heart… a sadness that overwhelms… something beautiful that had just blossomed would soon be thrown in to the backwash of the plane that takes off, effectively killing it.
The corners of my eyes are wet… a storm brewing behind the irises. There is a tremble on my lips as I say goodbye to the country I have never really loved. There’s a lump in my throat that refuses to go away when I think about the love that bloomed in this desert; which shall never find its way again in to my heart.
When I bid adieu to that love… it is an everlasting farewell… something I cannot erase even though I want to.
Parting is such sweet pain… in the anticipation that there would be a meeting in the future. But, when that hope is dead… parting is just torture.
The castles in sand that I’d painstakingly built… their halls would never be decked again. The lights are all out and the windows barred… the drawbridge pulled up and the moat’s flooded.
Life would go on… There would still be a tomorrow… where I wake up to the cold sun.
The spring has passed… the snow falls thick… the winter deepens, darkens and freezes the moments of happiness in crystal cages.
All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go
I’m standin’ here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin’, it’s early morn
The taxi’s waitin’, he’s blowin’ his horn
Already I’m so lonesome I could die
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
‘Cause I’m leaving on a jet plane
I don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go
There’s so many times I’ve let you down
So many times I’ve played around
I’ll tell you now, they don’t mean a thing
Every place I go, I think of you
Every song I sing, I sing for you
When I come back I’ll wear your wedding ring
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
‘Cause I’m leaving on a jet plane
I don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go
Now the time has come to leave you
One more time, oh, let me kiss you
And close your eyes and I’ll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won’t have to leave alone
About the times, I won’t have to say…
Oh, kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
‘Cause I’m leaving on a jet plane
I don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go
© Surya Murali