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| Pranab Ghosh |
[A novella (genre memoir) in free verse]
By Pranab Ghosh
[Part 2]
... But I manage to
Survive
So, I am here to
Share the tale
Of the ‘hell’ I’ve been through
A living one, for sure
A living hell!
A living hell!
A living hell!
“How come there’s
A hell on Earth?”
“Well”, I’ll like to say,
“The answer may sound
“Strange...
“Strange...
“Strange...
“To say the least...
“Desire to grow rich
“Desire to drink
‘life to the lease’ –
“Clich├й may work
“Better at times...
“Desire to outsmart
“Not just your foes –
“I mean your competition –
“But your friends too
“Desire to enjoy the very best
“Desire to be the monarch
“Of your life and all
“In it, if not of the world
“Desire!
“Desire!
“Desire!”
“Desire driven they
Decided to go the
That ‘extra mile’,
Though proverbial
Yet sometimes unattainable
“But
But
But
“They wanted to
Make sure that
They travel that
Proverbial mile
Without disturbing
Their flight path,
Their career and
Dreams, related!
“They found out
The way too...
Many of them...,
However odd it
May appear to be
To you, more so
If that mile comes
In the way of yours!
“They gave decorum
A go by; decency
Given an indecent burial
They trampled ‘wisdom’,
Age-old, and embraced
The crook’s way...
That mile they’ll have to traverse!
“Devoid of moral standing
Devoid of ethical mooring
Devoid of celestial backing
Devoid of anything noble
They lost course, even
Of the proverbial mile,
More so, when they got stuck
In some ‘air pocket’
In course of their ‘chartered flight’
“Their flight path jeopardized,
Blame it on recession,
Post-pandemic or
Faulty economic policies,
Trade hiccups...
Or whatever there may be...
They tried to cling on
To the unsavory extra mile,
Desperate to reach
Their goal, what if
Their ‘flight’ had been
‘Grounded’...
“Grounded
Grounded
“They refused to give up,
As they worked towards
Finding another flight-path
To their destiny, they
Followed, their desire-driven
Extra mile with the
ZealofaMachiavelli
“Prince they were not
Neither could they become!
As insects fly into fire
They burnt their wings
And fell on their face
Half-burnt and near dead!
“And we now stand
Face-to-face
With decay and doom,
Time rotting in the
Grave of time,
“Our time
Your time
Their time!
“Time’s up, someone decreed
Someone
Decreed
“Decreed
“And their show ended
Ended
Ended!
“‘The show must go on’,”
Theirbosseshowled
“And you know the rest!
Don’t you?
“Don’t tell me
You don’t
Please don’t.
“Now, I know you’re annoyed
With me. With all those, who
point the black hole
Out to you!
“Desire’s the black hole
That blindfolds you
As you hurtle down
The path of destruction
“And
It had been proven
Once again
Today
As it had been
Yesterday
The day before
And
It had been standing proven
Since antiquity
“Only you refused
To acknowledge
And that’s not my fault!
“Hope you all will
Understand
Now
Now!
“‘The remedy then’?”
You may ask.
“Change!”, I'll reply.
“Change’s the only constant!”
Another clich├й!
Never mind the clich├й
At least
For now
But
Do
It
‘And be the change’!
That’s
The
Only
Way out!
Author’s bio: Pranab Ghosh is an award-winning journalist and writer. He has worked for such media houses as The Hindustan Times, The New Indian Express Group, Eenadu Digital, Business India Group etc.. His poems and prose pieces have been published by several International and Indian magazines and e-zines, such as the Indian Literature, Piker Press, Dissident Voice, Memoryhouse, Setu etc.. Two, of his five books of poems were published in 2023 – Karma Cola (Impspired.com, UK) & Love, Religion & Politics (Virasat, Kolkata). He at present stays in Kolkata.
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