As I Lay Embryo-Like Poem by Madathil Rajendran Nair
As I Lay Embryo-Like
The scope went down the food pipe
Lighting its contracting walls
Down to a frothing stomach
Where they scratched out
A piece of suspected tissue
To look at it later at leisure
And ascertain the secrets of its texture.
I lay embryo-like
Folding my hands around my head
In prostration to the might of science
A toy in the hands of bespectacled intelligence
Pouring over me in profound seriousness.
I lay embryo-like
Sedated in primal state
As my entrails curled up
Like earthworms in the sun
To their curious prodding.
Another tube headed up the colon
To pinch a piece
Of an innocent polyp
That swayed its head
Like hyacinth in the wind.
Blood splashed around bright
Painted the flesh Picasso-like.
They would look at the bit later again
Under their scopes
In air-conditioned labs
And nod their heads
In grave silence.
God only knows what that would mean.
Or, who would care?
I could only think embryo-like
Sedated into my primal state.
The tubes scoured me up and down,
They thought they knew me too well now,
To fill their talks at lunch
What each cell, each hole, each bit
Of my pulsating corpus meant.
Yet I lay sedate, unknown to them
Like a sunken sun behind the crimson hill
Radiating into trees, winds and sky
And the last chirps of homing birds,
Housing a universe in my heart.
They thought they knew me too well
As they peered into every cell
For foreboding changes that spelt hell.
Yet, they knew me not
The one who lay sedate
Worlds away from them
Holding the universe in his fondly clasp.
Bit by bit even if they cut me up, they will still never find out what ails my being what part of me hurts. WOW! Could learn so much from poets like you. Thanks for sharing
A fantastic write with beautiful lines.... Yet, they knew me not The one who lay sedate Worlds away from them Holding the universe in his fondly clasp. Very true said, it is very painful just watching everything lying helplessly. Though you have passed through painful situation, you have presented it very well.
3 - last line: i think you 'want' " fond" , an adjective with two definitions. " Fondly" is an adverb. to MyPoemList bri :) I commented, EXTENSIVELY, IN 2017 & 2018 also!
2 - more favorites: " Yet I lay sedate, unknown to them Like a sunken sun behind the crimson hill" ... I THINK, by " Yet" , if you mean " still/continuing" or " however" , but.. Merrium-Webster's (dictionary) , online, gives other definitions. (cont.)
1 - i saw this on Valsa George's 'favorite poems' list. some favorite lines: " A toy in the hands of bespectacled intelligence Pouring over me in profound seriousness." Depending on where i look, online, i find " sedate" as either an adjective, OR a verb, but not both for some reason. I've only been familiar with the verb form (cont.)
A very relevant piece of poetry here. Today's medical diagnosis and treatment is all of head and little heart. A patient is reduced to a thing and not a living entity. No wonder he has no option to lie down embrio like. Good write.
Thanks a lot, Mr. Pathak, for your very kind words. Appreciate it very much.
I PLAN TO PUT THIS POEM AND ITS Malayalam translation: ഞാന് ഭ്രൂണം പോലെ കിടന്നപ്പോള് INTO the November showcase of PH poems by PH poets. November's showcase, not started yet, will feature poems by poets of the Indian subcontinent (again) ., as did September's showcase. Thanks. bri ;)
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/18/2024 1:42:51 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Great indeed! So glad to welcome a great poet to poem hunter! So impressed with your first poem itself! Did they suspect some malignant growth inside......? The procedure of endoscopy and colonoscopy are all tedious! Embryo like, lying sedate is a different experience...... dead to the world and helpless like an embryo!