Read the poem and answer the questions given below it.
A Letter Never Posted
I wrote it on the night we fought, Imran,
in pencil first, then over it in ink:
three pages on the cricket bat I broke
and blamed on you before I stopped to think.
I said I missed our long walks home from school.
I said the new boy’s jokes were not that bright.
I said that I was sorry. Twice. And then
I struck one out. Two did not seem quite right.
I bought a stamp and wrote your full address.
I left it on my desk to post next day.
Next day you sat beside Vikram in class,
and so I put the envelope away.
Each Diwali, when we cleaned the house, it moved
one drawer down, under bills and broken pens.
Your family left for Pune that December.
I heard it later, from our common friends.
It is still here. The stamp is two rupees,
the flap unstuck, the pages curled at the end.
Last year I found your number in a group.
I typed out “Hi, it’s me,” and did not send.
What is the central idea of the poem?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → an apology that the speaker has held back for years and still has not sent
The whole poem follows one letter of apology that never leaves the speaker’s house.
- The speaker writes it “on the night we fought” and says “I was sorry”. But the envelope is put away.
- Year after year it moves “one drawer down”, and “It is still here”.
- Even now the speaker types “Hi, it’s me” and “did not send”. The apology is still held back.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: the happy school days with a friend that can never come back — Incorrect. Wrong focus: The walks home from school are only one line of the letter. The poem is about the letter that was never sent.
Option 2: the sadness of losing a friend when his family moves to another city — Incorrect. Wrong reason: The friendship broke after the fight, before the move to Pune. The speaker only “heard it later”.
Option 3: the way old letters keep the memories of childhood safe — Incorrect. Too broad: The poem is about one unsent letter and the speaker’s failure to send it, not about old letters in general.