Suffocating Me Means Suffocating Yourself Poem by Bashyam Narayanan

Nature has created me to support
Combustion and thus help you
With heat and energy

I rush to the spot, wherever
You strike a spark and
Create a flame or fire
Let that be the tip of a cigarette
Or a gas burner
Or an engine

I enter you as well each time you take a breathe
Go into your lungs
Hurriedly pass through your tissues
Reach your blood
Get passed on to each cell of yours
For generating heat and energy
So that you keep performing
The mental and physical tasks assigned to you
And your body has its metabolism in tact

I do not require to say
I keep you alive, active
And kicking
Ensuring also
A life with comfort

You pray to your Gods, but
Have you ever thanked me
Leave alone worshipping me
As I ensure your survival

The same molecule of me
Now in this writer’s mind
Was circulating in the body
Of the most celebrated leader of
The most power country of the world a month back
And six months ago
Was struggling to help a poor child
In a poverty ridden nation
And before that was
Breathed in by a glamorous actress
Along with the costliest deodorant she has applied

But my job was the same regardless of whom I entered

But, of late, you generate a number
Of other unwanted things
Like smoke, gases, dust and emissions
And let them airborne
Which suffocate me
And I am finding it difficult to reach
The point of combustion, fire and your tissues
With my original strength

You need to check such activities as
Suffocating me means
Suffocating yourself