A Poem

The business of living


“The movie is so interesting”,
He thought, sitting in the theatre.
The corn, the ambience, the plot so arresting!
(And what about the caricature?)

He’d come with the account didn’t he?
Wads of notes, cheques, coins to chime,
Fortune to last an eternity:
The bank account of time.

Spend and watch, watch and spend,
As if they were synonyms!
The Business of watching a movie!
The Business of living a life!

With eyes on the screen,
And hands on the keys
Of his lap, he sat unseen.
A gander among geese.

Amidst this stifling heat-
No fluster, no frown.
He got up from his seat
He put the lap down.

The movie went on
As out he went(And out it went)
Into the rain- the spattering rain:
Out of the vent.(All that was pent)

The rainbow, the rain,
The stir of the way:
The radiance, the main,
The light of day.

He’d stopped watching the show,
He’d stopped working on the lap
There was nothing to tow
He’d opened the tap;

That he may drink.
The freedom in control
The freedom of being
And being in control

Not the freedom of the leaf
Blown by the wind;
The freedom of reality:
The freedom of the wind.

And then he knew he was
Not in the future,
Not in the present,
But in eternity.

Meghu