Hide-and-seek in the Sky
K. Radhakumar *
My colleague in the office -
He greets me with his mechanical smile
I know it
I mean his mechanical smile.
We have been friends and colleagues
For more than twenty five years.
Twenty five years is a long time
But I can vividly remember
My joining this office
As if it were yesterday.
Today there is poetry in the cliché
Time flies;
Life is short.
In twenty five years
John Keats the bard had
Fanny Brawns and the classic odes.
A diabetic
Husband to a dead wife
Father of two children...
Do you need my name and address?
Well, Radhakumar is my name
And I live at
Uripok Takhellambam Leikai,
Imphal West-795001.
Will it make any difference
If I am known by another name
Or I live in 35 York Road?
The sun rises
The sun sets
That's all.
My story doesn’t add up.
I know my friend's mechanical smile
And I smile back mechanically.
The way he smiles
I suddenly feel
I have lived using a false identity.
What kind of life I have lived
What kind of death I am going to die -
These days
I go into the whys and the wherefores of life
Or rather my life.
The road to the grave is dark,
The road beyond the grave is dark.
I look out of the window
The sun goes behind a cloud
And a little bird perches in the nearby tree.
* Poem written by K. Radhakumar which was published at The Sangai Express
This poem was webcasted on April 21, 2019.
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