Alone In A Hospital On A Sunday Morning Poem by Shankaran Kutty

Far away from the buzzling town
Kochi a score miles away
With rain lashing all around
It has been a lonely day

Tucked away in a corner
A village so pretty green
But for my sore and aching back
This place I never would have seen

So many months, I did suffer
Excruciating has been the pain
All treatments and medicines I did try
But alas, all had been in vain

Massages, oils, pain killers
Muscle relaxants I had them all
None cured the injury I had got
When one day I had a fall

And so it was that I decided
Ayurveda, it had to be
I was game to try any treatment that
Relief it will bring to me

And so it was that I find myself
In this hospital so far away
With hope in heart and prayer on lips
That cure will come my way

It is so peaceful, so quiet and calm
But I find myself so lonely
Although unlike a commercial place
This place is indeed homely

I watch the narrow, lonely road
That winds its way in front
And the trees that sway and swing in tune
As it bears the monsoon’s brunt

A cyclist sprints around the curve
He sure is going for broke
An old man stands and sips his tea
And curls his rings of smoke

The corridor behind I hear some voice
And loud peals of laughter
Two old men in their late seventies
Like me, they too have no visitor

A gale picks up speed and dust
And leaves wet from the pouring rain
The falling drops needles my skin
The chill, numbs my brain

As the rain rushes in, I do not move
But stand and soak in the bliss
The gale batters the hapless trees
This chance I don’t want to miss

So far away are the worldly thoughts
My chores, my office, my work
This place doth truly soothe my mind
Though nature has gone beserk.

A break like this does remind me
That we should keep our lives so simple
Ambition, fame, money and wealth
Shouldn’t make us less humble

Next one week then, so it will be
With treatment so traditional and pure
An unknown face amongst this crowd
Seeking from pain, a cure

And cure it will not just an aching body
But also a tensed up mind
For in this dainty little village I am sure
Peace and happiness I will find