Vanquished

 I wake up

To a melancholic Monday morning,

Argentina, rather Messi

Has been vanquished;

Another four years,

But it won’t be the same

 

I sit quietly

And exhale,

Recollecting how it all came full circle –

Wasn’t it ‘just’ four years back

That the legend lifted the same cup -

Doesn’t it feel like yesterday?

 

But four years

Is a long time

The friends I had celebrated with

Sans frontieres

Have long since moved on

Entire teams have changed

 

Yet some players

Push on,

Sometimes, the entire world

Backs them,

Exchanging euphoria and heartbreaks

As the seasons fly

 

Others stare silently

And carry their burden

There are no accolades

For every day’s warriors;

Sometimes there are not even known faces

In an emptiness of a bustling world

 

So long, legend, I whisper

I guess this is where the era ends;

I look outside the window

The magnolia tree faraway

Is in full bloom

They have bloomed way earlier, I wonder…

 

20^th July 2026