Across the road

Across the road
The banyan tree whispers
The peepal tree listens
Their age old conversations unheard
Since ancient times
The carts plow on
The school children frolick
Beneath their leafy shade
Young brides tie sacred threads
Around the girth of the banyan
Smear the symbols of their wedded status
And congregate in periodic communion
The peepal forlorn
Watches from beyond time
Rooted in its space
The tree of ghosts
No one to worship it