Mad Series Poem by Sayeed Abubakar

Mad: 1

He was angling fish sitting on the high way,
Frequently making the hook dance
And all on a sudden, pulling the fishing rod
So forcefully that it seemed
A big catfish had certainly swallowed the hook.
He was then repenting loudly showing others
Really a big fish had fled making him a fool.

Pedestrians were watching him shaking their necks
And bursting into laughter.

An unhappy man stopped his purple colored car
Beside the road and asked him aloud
Opening the window, 'Brother,
Have you got any fish? '

He raised his eyes at forehead with surprise
And said, 'Alas! Who has ever got a fish on a dry street? '

Mad: 2

He walks on the water of an ocean;
His legs do not get wet.
He walks through the incessant rain;
His body does not get wet.

One day somebody invited him at his home
And offered a room to sleep.
At midnight, he started shouting, 'Help! Help! '
Because he was floating like water-hyacinth
On the water of the house.

Mad: 3

He was getting flushed with shame.
He was scolding all the animals
Calling them uncivil and uncultured.
Then he was forcefully dressing all those
That were unknowingly going near him.

Wearing the civil attire,
The dogs were sweating in heat;
The cocks and hens were running to and fro
With discomfort.
Wearing the ultramodern tight British dress,
The helpless cats were mewing on the streets.

The towns-folk burst into laughter
Watching his acts.
Looking at them, he suddenly cried out in anger,
'Brethren or gentlemen, now you, yes you,
Kindly start putting off all your cloths.
You have no right to be covered with this civil dress
Because you have already lost that right.'

Mad: 4

Sometimes he cannot recognize himself.
He cannot recognize his own hands, own legs, own body,
Even his own voice. It seems to him that he is an alien,
A man of different language who has been haunting him
For twenty four hours like a shadow.

Sometimes he calls himself by his own name.
It seems to him that thousand years have already passed.
Has his corpse been rotten then, or has he himself been
A mummy? Is he in a dwelling house or in a museum?

All on a sudden, he shouted loudly, 'Thief! Thief! '
Saying 'Police! Police! ', he caught his one hand
By the other one and asked himself,
'Who are you at this inopportune moment here? '
And instantly he releases that hand
Getting afraid very much, nobody knows why.