Enlightenment Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

Enlightenment

That I have to write like this,
Separating myself from her,
There can be nothing sadder.

When we started our married life
We were so happy with each other
That nothing, no-one else mattered.

We went, thought, and felt always together;
More than for five years,
She came on official tours everywhere.

She would drive the official jeep,
Sing Tamil film songs, crack jokes
Enjoy food in the guesthouses.

Later, if I left on tour to Bombay, alone
She would wait downstairs on steps
Of the Collector’s bungalow, dinnerless.

She once took a post-card, and wrote
Darling name she calls me by - kanna, kanna,
Some 849 times.

She would fight with her family
On my behalf, and praise Bombay and IAS
Against Chennai, and the engineers.

She came and slept one night in my office
In Satara Zilla Parishad, when I was sorting out
Teachers’ transfer scam the whole night.

She then grew up; I and the people treated her
As a person; she studied to become librarian,
She started working, and thinking for herself.

I used to be happy with her;
I used to be, and am, proud of her,
But now I don’t feel part of her.

Life goes through its wheel of Fire:
It is like rim of the wheel, as Kalidasa said,
You are sometimes up, sometimes down.

Shelley too was right: Spring always follows Winter;
Spring may follow winter, but youth does not follow old age,
Not for the same person, even if you believe in re-birth.

Better therefore everyone learns fast,
And remembers that things change,
Does not dream present would remain future.