To savour my last monsoon(Poem)

To savour my last monsoon

(A drop of Anguish through a Poem)

By

Aniruddha Roy Choudhury

20TH JUNE 2019

Santineketan, WB

(written on behalf of a cancer patient)

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I threw aside the tubes stuck into me today

I decided to live , free, till my last breath from hence

My Lord , they say you see all from above the clouds

Permit me to present you with my little poem

A dash of few fond memories and a few pangs of regret

My Lord, I realize - oh- I am going to miss the beauty of this world, from hence

From the hospital window I see the hustle, bustle of the world below

Faces creased with worries and yet their life goes on

Content with struggling in this stormy world with its brief pleasures

Lord - why deny me the same albeit for a while

Have I committed a crime so severe in my past life

That in your books you penalize me thus today

Visits determined by how much they gain , hence they fade away

My friends visit me no longer and my mother is too old

I travel in my memories back down the village path

The bull pulls the cart , bells clanging, raising dust

Markets selling them yet aiming stones at mango trees

Climbing out of the pond and diving into the cool waters again

The village belles swinging their hips as they carried the pots

Battling at flying kites in the windy afternoon.

They say I remain a guest of few precious days

But I desire to savour these once more my lord.

Long ago, she had walked into the college library with long wet hair

The beauty of your creation is astounding my lord

We studied together and harboured many hopes & dreams

She had got married, she came the other day to say, with tears in her eyes,

I watched from the window for very long, as she walked away

In all humility my lord I ask, why me, why us?

It rained last night through the window and I intentionally got wet

I desire to savour every drop lest I savour no more

I smell the wet earth and stare at the beauty of the world like a greedy man

Lord, I see your extended hand, but I do not want to go

I so want to savour that which I took for granted till today

I wish to race through the meadows with my dog barking at my heels

I wish to walk down the village path one last time

Lord - I have so many unfulfilled dreams, must I go

I am so afraid though I sport a brave face

Grant me the time to savour my last monsoon

But I so want to stay

I do not wish to go.

I do not wish to go.

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I went to visit a stranger and wrote this on his behalf

He wanted to remain anonymous, so we respect that

Hence this Poem I dedicate to the emotional soldier of our world. He did not give up till the very last you know. And he never expressed his regrets , barring the tears that welled up in his eyes, when I read out this poem to him. But he wiped them away, pretending that he had dust in his eyes.

I present to you all, this poem, on behalf of all the cancer patients of this world who desire to remain anonymous.

Let us be with them. Let us hold their hand.

Aniruddha Roy Choudhury

20TH JUNE 2019

Saltlake, West Bengal, India

9035803699