Agony, Honey, Long Journey Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

A weary way-fairer, and lost in wood
One dark night, tired, hungry, fell in a well—
Dry, unused, and that left him on fate to brood,
Lucky to clutch on to roots of a swell
Banyan tree, and hung half-awake midway
Spending the whole night praying for a ray
Of hope, so precariously suspended;
And dreamt he was lifted out, not yet dead.
In trying times, life's sole lifelines from blue,
He wondered what man would without dreams do.

Never in life had he dreamt for dawn more,
Which when came, came to spell disaster—
There growled at the well's mouth a mighty tiger,
Greedy that stared, hunger writ all over;
The only way was the unknown way down,
Hanging for dear life, let the danger go,
But no, he heard a python hissing— brown
And big, tongue twirling, ready to swallow,
Frail lifeline-like roots beginning to buck,
When destiny frowns, wonder what can luck!

But when his faint vision began to blur,
And tired brain short of starch to think,
He felt a cooling, sticky little stir,
Dripping from nose to lips, slowly to slink
Down to his mouth; but how, how can it be?
A few drops of heavenly sent honey!
Ahead he saw a bear seated aplomb
A tree above, grabbing a honey comb!
Perhaps grave fears on his fate were not fair,
Perchance, life has something for all to spare.

Ere, waiting he was for the dawn to be,
Waiting then hungry mouths to go away,
Now for a few chancy drops of honey—
Waiting looks like eon, though a night's play!
And it did dawn to him: life like that is—
Letting a few licks at a time to relish,
Hitches and glitches, catches everywhere,
Oft still life offers an option that tells:
Plights tend to come with pleasure how so bare,
We must weigh how long to wait in deep wells.
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This poem is allegorical on life's long journey, which by and large littered is with agony, with a few drops of honey thrown in by destiny here and there. Man lives amid hopes of better times.
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Reflections | 03.01.12 |