Nameless Existence

Complex tangles of various thoughts

Paralyzed the mind:

From somewhere came the shuddering cry of

A demented mother,

And somewhere tears had evaporated.

Dry, parched throats

That cannot cry out for water,

Seemed a trifling.

Tawdry salons that advocated

The talents of a coiffeur,

Stood out amidst the crowd—

Where many things have been lost.

From the corner of my eye

I saw a red gleam of destitution,

Where squalor was the need of the day.

I walked out alone

On the desolate street at night—

Only the yellow sodium

Shone on the street vis-a-vis.

The green wore a veil of a colour unknown,

And the white were stained black:

A dubious colour of a dubious nature

Transfused the garments within—

Contagious; infectious.

A hard-faced termagant shrieked out from her verandah

To the cacophonous children beneath,

With a purpose unknown,

With a behaviour strange.

Amidst the shattered pathways

Where people treaded day and night,

Goons were bred.

I watched embarrassed faces

Red with shame,

Hiding from the crowd,

And august heads

Conspicuous from anywhere.

I witnessed dust-filled eyes

Staring up at the skies,

And intermittent changes of fortune

Flooding the settlements.

Muddy feet, strange faces, dour eyebrows—

A phantasmagoria of luscious scenes

Pervading the scenario,

And life going on still.

I saw that red gleam once more:

From the traffic lights,

Blinding and awfully bright;

While the yellow never blinked.

Mortified figures stood like

Phantoms of the dark—

Shattered and emaciated bodies,

Gaunt faces, cadaverous looks.

People have died before death.

Death stood gazing at the procession,

Smiling at its power;

But last night people gained life by death,

And the lonely street stood witness to a thousand changes.

By the side of a lake,

I watched a heartbroken soul,

Desiring to die;

By the side of a deep gutter not far,

I watched hundred souls,

Desiring to live.

The sun descends on the far horizon

Away from the shore,

And sailors harking at the windy night:

“I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.”