POETRY

my life

is a poem

a poem

i was asked

to write

as a child

my life

is a poem

of Kipling’s

i had copied

as a child

when i didn’t know

what a poem was

when i didn’t know

what copying was

when I thought

writing a poem

was

to copy

someone else’s

innocently

i wrote it

in my notebook

and took

it to school

strangely

it passed off

as mine

of a little child’s

when i got

congratulations

i did not deserve

i felt a pain

in my soul

a poet was born

n it returned home

and came back

with a poem

of its own

this time

it was accused

by the grown ups

gently in a court

which none but me attended

it was accused

of not being original

my poem

was entered into

a poetry competition

and slaughtered in court

for being

the unknown copy

of a great poet’s work

of which work

i did not know

of which work

they did not know

but they wished

to slaughter

and they did

my life

was that poem

a poem

i used to see

in everything around

and me

and i was slaughtered

by the grown ups

for this work

i felt it

again

a sharp untold pain

in my little heart

the poet had died

the poem

had died

and after

all these years

of living

a half life

without poetry

when i least expected it

i see

the poet is back

the child is back

the poem is back

in this grown up world

that took

my life away

who brought me back..

i do not know

i just know

i felt

a wordless pain

and when

i died again

the poet

was reborn

the child

is back

as a poem

my life

is only

a poem

a poem

that will

never die

in this

grown up world

again

a poem

that will

always be

contd..

contd..