Retired Poem by Nikhil Parekh

There was a time when I incessantly coaxed my boss to relieve me early; liberating me an infinitesimal trifle of my debilitatingly coercing schedule,
While today; every bone in my body irascibly itched to step outside; at even the tiniest insinuation of bird cry or flickering light.

There was a time when I gritted my teeth an indefatigable moment in the realms of snobbishly pretentious office; insatiably wanting to nestle in the lap of wholesome solitariness and far away from the impudent hustle-bustle of the sickening corporate
crowd,
While today; I found the most spuriously lackadaisical of reasons; to tirelessly converse with every stranger that I encountered on the streets.

There was a time when I profoundly felt like charring every cranny of the lecherously asphyxiating office into threadbare ash; uninhibitedly staring at fathomless bits of azure sky without a soul to interrupt my unassailably ebullient fantasy,
While today; I pleadingly looked at even the most sordidly cloistered dustbins; to relentlessly talk to me; share with me the experiences of their life.

There was a time when I was ready to pay any price on this earth to be wholesomely relieved of polishing my devilish boss's shoes; feeling like audaciously slapping every entity in the match-box conference room whiling away its time in slang; smoke and wine,
While today; I unrelentingly envied flamboyant youth euphorically darting towards work at the crack of nine; the spirit of profuse accomplishment in their bones; which had since long left mine.

There was a time when I had truculent nightmares of approaching death very soon even in the most brilliant of daylight; as I had to inevitably blend with the
dogmatic corporate world to pay the rent for my very own soil,
While today; I attended every pulsating party without even the slightest of invitation; fervently trying to engage all; from the prince to the butler in my tales of vibrant life; while they kicked my dithering skeleton on the dusty pathways and out.

There was a time when I felt pathetically staggering for fresh breath; amidst unruly crowds of politicians; my tycoon compatriots; and my boss's unreasonable
lambasting me for achieving the best; although it meant digging countless feet beneath my grave,
While today; every element of my countenance was disastrously suffocating in the interiors of my own dwelling; with the society rejecting my quaintly quavering voice like frigid nothingness; and without even the most mercurial mission in my
decaying hands.

There was a time when I vomited even the last morsel of food in my stomach at the very mention of travelling; dismally sick of putting a pompous smile in front of the inhumanly tight lipped customer; although I felt like spitting on his worthless mercedes,
While today; I felt that the biggest achievement of my life was in my insipidly laborious morning walk; as that was the only opportunity I could salvage; to
drift my ailing form from my purposeless house.

There was a time when I obnoxiously detested people who superfluously adorned their bodies with meaningless jewelry; wasting their entire wealth on baseless ostentation; when countless deprived just needed two morsels of food to lead life,
While today; my greedy eyes uncontrollably sighted the postman every sweltering afternoon; ardently waiting for greetings; gifts; just anything to come my way;
enlightening my derogatorily deadened eyes; amidst my lackluster activity of
snapping flies.

There was a time when I ferociously jeered at extra population and pertinently perpetuating cries; wanting my very own free space to majestically lead the
chapter of vivacious life,
While today; I passionately longed for an unfathomable clutter of voices round my ghoulish abode; incorrigibly clung to the feet of every bystander who passed my trajectory; even as my very own blood; gruesomely abandoned me to die.

O! Yes; there was a time when I was euphorically young; squandering whatever I wanted to; malevolently complaining about dastardly office one in a while; at
the same time falling in immortal love; achieving even the most parsimonious of dreams floating in the aisles of unprecedented desire,
While today; I didn't know which direction to tread although the earth beneath me still reverberated with ecstatic cheer; although the planet around me still
continued to blossom into triumphant newness; while I perennially craved for those golden days once again; as I had now retired.