By Shruti Kakkar
Truly, certainly, verily
It’s travail to enthuse over the trivial
They call it a celebration.
The shades over my eyes are darker than theirs it seems…
Their bright and sunny days are the gloomiest of my nights…
Or maybe they wear shades to brave the sun while I, to escape it.
Their general effusiveness towards life surges my austerity towards manifolds towards it…
Ages ago or so it appears,
My eyes and mouth used to be bum chums…
When I laughed, the candor was mirrored in the countenance of my eyes,
Today, my poor lips smile and laugh on the autopilot mode…
More like it’s just a chore.
Back then, I would cry at the drop of a hat and laugh spontaneously with a spirited cackle,
Today my feeble caged soul peeps helplessly through my empty, guarded eyes…
My lively gait had the spring of purpose, unaffected, vigorous yet graceful,
These days I manage to drag along with the idle drift of life…
They stare at me curiously, questioning the rationale behind this metamorphism,
I glance at my present reluctantly and ponder for the hundredth time…
“If only I had cut the cord earlier…..
My heartiest congratulations to artist-poet Shruti Kakkar.