The Unemployed And The Wise Ones Poem by Raj Arumugam

The wise ones tell the unemployed:
There is hope. Keep trying.
There is yet hope - the unemployed lives on
such a thin line, for though there have been
continual rejections, there are yet three applications
to which replies have not come - and when they do,
there will yet be hope for the three rejections
will be superseded by three or four more applications pending.
There is hope yet - the unemployed lives on,
censured by the wise for being negative if he
thinks of the rejections
and otherwise being censured too for being a hopeless
optimist.
There is yet hope for the unemployed who keep trying,
their heads buried, and in deference to the wise ones
who will offer advice and comment in spite of everything.

The unembittered unemployed, the hopeful unemployed
is fair game to the wise ones.




(from The Migrant - notes of a newcomer (February 1997- July 1998))