REBECCA

REBECCA

It was sometime in Aug 1975 nearly four decades ago when I visited the Salarjung Museum in Hyderabad and for the first time gazed at the statue of Rebecca I was awestruck by the sheer beauty of the marble sculpture and penned down a few lines of verse. That’s all I could do for I did not have a camera. When I look back and read what I had written I realize that it was an outcome of the impulsive romantic that I was at that time. I still enjoy reading it and relive that phase of my life. Now in December 2014 nearly four decades later when I went there again, I spent time standing there staring at the statue, but now I did not need words for I had a camera and so I captured what I saw. I was no longer the romantic who bid adieu with a heavy heart but someone who had realized that ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever’  

Rebecca

Rebecca! Rebecca! I cry,

To her the veiled splendour,

My thoughts now fly.

There she stands clad in white,

Her beauty sheds a divine light.

Ah! There she smiles,

I can see through her veil,

In my heart an ache I feel.

Rebecca! Rebecca! Can’t you see,

For your love I long to be;

Your beauty so possesses me,

That now no longer am I free.

In this bondage I revel,

As I rest in this love’s cell,

And when softly I call your name,

You come to me,

To feed my flame.

Rebecca! Rebecca! I am aware,

For my love you may not care,

But this intense fervour of mine,

Shall speak of your face divine,

Your smiling lips, the caressing veil,

Your gentle feel,

Your silent grace.

Rebecca! Rebecca! I have come

Your true love to become,

But your smile I do not see,

And your stare is not at me.

My presence you do not feel,

Your vision thwarted by the veil.

Rebecca! Rebecca! Now I stand,

Love forlorn in front of you,

I make my way to distant land,

With a heavy heart I bid adieu.