Separate Ways Poem by Raj Arumugam

you will not know the
paths one took;
you will not know
the journeys
one made:
but then,
nobody knows, baby,
nobody knows
the sunlit ways you took
that led into shady ends


so separate people go
you do not know
the stories
on the neighbor’s face;
so distant the world goes
you do not know
the one who sleeps beside you

so enclosed we are
we walk like programs
that run their own
non-interactive course;
so centered are we
we do not now
other than our own concerns


death is news and hunger is pity
and massacres are distant
and abuse arouses speeches
and always one’s own sufferings
more urgent


and so the brain puts measures
and walls and enclosures
so we never know the burdens
that will break the camel’s back


we live in castles, baby
and we have internal, private
home theater systems
that are on auto upgrades;
we sit, though we walk,
the absorbing screen before
and the crowds behind



you will not know the
paths one took;
you will not know
the journeys
one made:
but then,
nobody knows, baby,
nobody knows
the sunlit ways you took
that led into shady ends