After All Is Said And Done

After All Is Said And Done

The news is better
We are doing things
Fixing it
About it
Working-

Hope wants to visit
Where it gets wind of news only God knows!
Like the family priest with a menu-
Too much enthusiasm
And a Bill.

But
The Lead won't jettison.

It wants
You
To forget yourself
Give up
Let go
Come jettisoning with it.

It is tempting
To think that if you go down, so do your problems
But-
but but but
It cannot be so easy.

The fine print has it covered
Read no read don't care
You will never be off the hook-
never finished with ashes
Never
Done-
It is banal
Sorrow is-

Just look at the uninvited guest-
Dresssed odd
Smelling of dust
undaunted, terrifyingly cocksure

Hope Priest wears a salesman's unshakeable Grin.
 What happened?
The eyes keep shifting side to side, but the grin-
Is that Rictus?
Or Wax?
An image?


October 29th, 2014
Gautam Mukherjee

Envelope

Envelope

Walk a ways
You are a creature
Better served
If you move-
Your mind is not you
Nor your body
But both need the exercise.

You are not tired
That feeling is not weariness
It is an envelope
And you are in it
With your head sticking out-

You are carried
The walk has gone mental
You are not sealed up
You can see
Feel the gait-

This is a palanquin
Carried by invisible elves
They feel your weight
and don't have any trouble
Carting you around in an unsealed envelope
At a time when no one writes letters-
And envelopes are for cash
And bills.

And you are neither credit nor debit
But could be a bagpipe yourself.



Gautam Mukherjee
10th October 2014