My Birth Poem by Arvind Srivastava

I could not become a singer completely

Poetry also touched me
and went back
Here also I failed

There were many dangers of becoming an intellectual
In a faltering democracy
I was deprived of becoming a democrat

All the qualities of a great singer
great poet
great democrat and
great intellectual
passed by me
like close experiences
Being a part of the solar system
In the workshop of nature

I was born
First of all I had no other option
except sucking my thumb!