Of course i'm plumb amazed, who knew i'd be a poet?
Gift me Michelin nights in Paris with caviar and Moët!
But who'll spend his money on a dark meteor like me?
For wordsmiths as for blacksmiths, nothing comes for free.
I fancy my wit shines brightly, yet none are much the wiser.
I'm alive, but just as nondescript as a long deceased Kaiser.
My insights are trivia, and my sensibilities trash,
Privately, friends whisper that i made my life a hash.
In godless space and endful time, the lines that i bequeath:
Exuding excrudescence, worth less than a memorial wreath.
Just grateful if your feet avoid my body on the floor,
As it waits so patiently for the furnace to yawn its door.
As patiently as it lived for many decades, and quite still,
Expecting some great meaning to stream downwards from the hill.
Yes, there's lots there to learn, but nothing much profound,
If i'm wrong, i'll apologise, the next time i'm around.
But there won't be a next time really, and not because i rhyme,
I'll be the carbon in the galaxy, a scattered silent mime.
The Universe will grow until it just can't any more.
And then it'll shrink to the nothing it was once before.
Let days be long, and the nights be long, take time in all you do,
Don't worry in excess like i did, about what's the really you.
Come in peace and then go in peace, enjoy the passing days,
There's haze all around us, just avoid being in a daze.
Sanjib Basu 