Speech And Life Poem by BASAB CHAUDHURI

The speaker is on the dais,
on the other side of the microphone.
I am in the audience,
with others listening to the speech.

A speech—
what is it?
Before it reaches the microphone,
it is already filtered.
When it reaches me,
what is it?
Do you understand what he says?

How much truth is in a speech?
The speaker says he speaks from the heart,
he feels his heart.
Does he feel chest pain as he speaks?

Between heart and mouth—
what exists?
Between mouth and microphone—
what exists?
Between microphone and audience—
what exists?

Within the audience—
what exists?

Had life been lived as he says,
there would have been no speech.

All the speech is for a clap.
The speaker speaks and goes,
the audience looks at each other
and forgets.

'All the world is a stage' -
all the speech is a maze.