A Dead Man Walking Poem by Ratnakar Rout

I suspect whether I am alive or dead
At times, I feel, I am dead, at times alive
I live alike the three monkeys of Mahatma
Since long, I have closed my eyes
I have willfully made myself deaf and dumb too
At present, I don’t see, I don’t listen and I don’t speak
But I live and move as usual but don’t react
To the incidents happening around me
I watch, even immovable plants react to the external stimuli
But I don’t since; I have lost my will to react,
To show interest in things
And differentiate between good or bad
As I am almost compelled to look after my own affairs only
By no one in particular but the prevailing social condition
Wherein I live presently has made me confined
Like a tortoise, I am very calculative in my own movement
I crawl when I find a pasture land
And withdraw me at once when I encounter danger
On the face of an obstacle which puts hindrance ahead
I hide me in my own shell and snore calmly
As long as the impediments appear insurmountable
I am not bothered if my fellow citizens are in deep trouble
Over the years, I have withdrawn myself to my own domain
Every one should know that I am a lonesome, isolated
Detached and highly self-centered modern man Living
With you all in this first decade of the twenty first century
When everything mundane is available
At my door step to cater to my avid needs
Still, I am shivering in fear,
Shedding my tear now and then in seclusion
I have many unfulfilled desire to run after
In spite of that I have absolutely have no reaction
In any matter what so ever the situation becomes
Hue and cry, outside of me in the world,
Has almost restrained me in a self designed shield
Wherein, though I am visible alive clinically
But I am almost dead mentally, you can find me
Only my mortal body moves
From one end of the armor to the other
But it behaves mechanically as a robot
Being completely empty and vacuum
In absence of any consciousness
And in lacking the power of consideration
Now I live in it and move
Like a dead man walking in an abandoned castle.