Stay alone until dead.
Keep a hold on yourself,
Observe the green leaves,
The brown branches and twigs
Of trees. They don't celebrate
Birthdays. It's a one-off for them.
I go mad at the passage of years.
The incessant bell of birthdays,
Clanging no sooner it's stopped.
Give me the wherewithal
To find the engine, add more fuel,
Change the odometer reading,
Confuse nature. I can give up
Birthdays. Let me be 1 (one) only
Until dead. No gregorian kinks
For me. No pious Thank Yous,
Or even polite ones. I am guilty
Of the same, inflicting others
With the miserable reminders
Of ignorant and blissless birth
In the elaborate disguise of wish
And cheer. I protest the ragging
Of a fresher on his new year, old
Though he is more & more. No,
Stay one until dead, even alone.
Observe one birth, no more years
On that score. Let your baggage
Be thrown down once at the end.
Till then, observe the passage of
Pretty sights, do good, avoid pain.
Sanjib Basu 