No Baptism Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

Thought it was good and to 'poemize' it,
A little later when I took pencil and paper
I could not recall what it was;
I am in 3 C of Kingfisher flight to Bangalore
Trying hard to retrieve it from ocean
Of my memory and unconsciousness
And not succeeding; meanwhile across the aisle
The same girl, young and fair, seated
Opposite me in the airport talking on cell
So sweetly showing her pearly white teeth,
Has come in now and settled on 3 D,
And so now, getting the thread is impossible!

Keeping a paper and pencil to pull out
At once on the appearing of poemizing idea
I had done in the past for a while;
But it made me look vain and foolish
So gave up; but now lost in the dark sea
Of unawareness with no aid from Inchcape bell.
The Spinner of the Years in Hardy's phrase
Spins the birth of the poem and its death
Simultaneously before the baptism itself!

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost
Or of Love and Lust and Sex
Conception of the poem in this case
Is equal to premature withdrawal
Like that of the man from brother's widow
In the Old Testament since he did not want
To contribute to his brother's genealogical line.
Like Dream Children of Charles Lamb
Will I be able to describe unborn poems
Of mine some day in future?
I dont think so; for it is like the vision
Shown during lightning in dark night
Never again to be seen neither
Above the Sun, nor on the Earth
Nor underneath nor thereafter.

May we be kind to each other
Now and evermore -
Circumcised or not, baptised or not.