Can You See Me, Please? Poem by Renu Kakkar

Can you see me, please?
I call out again and again.
There are so many people,
but my cries seem to be in vain.

Many are sitting next to someone sleeping,
all seem to be talking in soft whispers.
My wife and my children are crying,
the rest seem to be shedding crocodile tears.

I call out again to my wife,
she does not see me at all.
What is going on it is hurting me like a knife,
why am I being ignored by all?

Suddenly she gets up and comes near,
taking a few steps towards me.
I shout and shout but she does not hear,
This would make anyone angry you'd agree.

Some people enter and pass me by,
they almost touch me and I have no feeling.
A child walks through me without even a bye,
this scares me as to what is happening.

I glance at the sleeping figure properly,
and I get a shock of my life there.
It is me lying there dead to all and sundry,
I weep without tears wondering who am I standing here?

Realization comes and I understand who I am now,
a confused soul whose time has come to go away.
A celestial light falls on to me like at a theater show,
waiting to take me away after farewells I say.

Wishing I could have lived my life better,
provided for my family in the limited time.
Being called back early does matter,
For rainy days I have not saved even a dime.

I wonder what will their future be like?
how will they manage now I have gone?
Life is a stage we say our piece before a mike.
when our call comes many tasks are left undone.

There is nothing left for me here,
I should not stand to ponder now.
My pondering will not get me anywhere,
they wait patiently, I should be moving somehow.

renukakkar27.1.2012
Copyright@2012