Nightingale (Poem-10) [In Memory of Lata Mangeshkar]

Rest in peace, Ms. Lata Mangeshkar (1929-2022)

I still remember that day

When I was new to this town

Nobody got out of their way

Nay, didn't even show me 'round.

The town's people were a quaint folk

Did nought but incessant work

And the only signs of esprit were 

The Nightingale and these trees of birch.

The Nightingale, o, what a divine soul!

Seemed as though she channeled light

Her sweet and melodious harmonies,

They'd drown away the blues of the nights.

Each night I returned to my home

Exhausted, drained and in a sulk,

The only soul out there for me

Was that little bird in the tree pulp.

Whenever I wandered through

The darkest alleys of my mind,

The soft voice of the Nightingale 

Would help me leave the past behind.

It had been o'er a few decades since

She'd been singing songs for me

But good things must leave you once,

As when I returned one day, 

She was nowhere to be seen...

It had the voice of an angel

Had returned to where angels belong,

"But, true beings never truly die.."

She'd told me through a song;

She may be missing from the birch

But she was never truly gone,

For even today, in my heart

The Nightingale lives on.

-Armaan Kothare

This poem was written in the memory of and as a tribute to the Bharat Ratna recipient and one of the greatest singers of all time, Ms. Lata Mangeshkar. I won't pretend like I was a die-hard fan, but she truly was one of the most talented and gifted singers of all time, and perhaps will continue to be. 

You know you've left a mark when your name is known to even to those generations that were born after you couldn't sing anymore, and that is most definitely the case with Ms. Mangeshkar. Her loss was felt by millions of souls and those lives that she'd touched with her melodious voice.

Thank you for everything you've done, Nightingale of India, and may your soul find peace where you truly belong...

🙏🙏