For the Common People
K. Radhakumar *
Four.
It's dawn.
The baby cries for its mother.
The mother changes the wet nappy;
Puts it at her breast and lulls it to sleep.
No place and time for a number two
When it needs one.
It crawls before it stands
And talks in absurd baby language.
Two.
ABCs.
He finally gets a job as a ...
Well, the particulars do not matter.
What matters is he earns enough money
In the hard times he lives in.
Marriage - 1541990.
A poet wrote: Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
A two-bed room house
Four children and their education
Household goods and bills
Promotion life insurance
Social advancement a union member -
He is always very political.
It's all he has.
It's all he has.
What does he miss most -
Somebody or something?
He is not clear about it.
His is a life not different from others.
Three.
Since his retirement, he feels more energetic.
Is it really so or is it just his idea?
Perhaps two third of his life is now being spent;
He has reached at a crossroads
And there's no going back.
He hears himself asking:
Who am I? What was I born for?
What is the purpose of this life?
Can I say
I've had a happy life, a perfect life?
He gropes around in the dark
For an answer.
Four.
Grey hair grey eyes under the grey skies of Rome.
Food brings him no happiness.
He takes shelter from storm in an old age home
And always wears a grey suit.
His teeth his eyes his ears
All these cause problems
Unfamiliar and unworldly problems.
Life looks grey and very pointless to him.
NB : He dies at 81.
* Poem written by K. Radhakumar which was published at The Sangai Express
This poem was webcasted on October 13, 2019.
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