Paganeri Episode Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

Over thirty years, you had been in my brain,
With teenage image in tender plumage,
So romantic, so smart, and so receptive,
In talks, deeds and walks, to hold me captive
Till I saw you, from pain and sorrow,
To only find how withered you became
So dull, so sluggish and so over aged
In talks, looks, and walks to my dismay.
With remorse I wish I didn’t see you.
You would have stayed in me what you had been.
Unromantic mate, you had fallen to,
Like a parrot perking on a thorny plant.
I know your value; yet I missed you.
I could have kindled and preserved you.
No amount of regrets could absolve me
Of the cheat that I’d committed on you.
I repent and repent for my own shake.
A diamond had been burnt to a carbon.
01.05.2002, pakd