I Remember that Farewell Night
Listless waited the farewell cake on plate,
And all the rest, nigh too eager to leave
On uttering polite words that came late,
I recall that custom-built tedious eve
Called a send-off to balding me to give.
When eased I was unto my life's late eve
Called retirement, an edge of precipice
That left me with old memories to live,
Warm words when felt like biting cubes of ice,
When virtuous turned many an old vice.
Cake tasting bitter sweet with thick icing,
Cold drinks gotten warm by hypocrisy,
A pomp-enwrapped gift packet left waiting
For evening to end rather hurriedly,
Boat-less from ship when one’s lowered mid-sea.
When a toothless tiger’s left lone to fade,
Unto vacuum, cajoled for the farewell,
A cruel send-off more sinister made,
A routine that ought to be done, done well,
When style and form, not substance, must prevail.
When strange virtues were extolled— news to ears:
That ‘I would be missed for long time to come’—
By all, colleagues and peers and superiors—
Ho-hum that failed to add up to the sum,
In tune nor rhyme, strident beats a loud drum.
Yea, I remember well my farewell plight,
My value was when mouthed without a pause,
Just when I slipped into life's looming night,
Clicks before I cut cake amidst applause,
‘Old foggy’ who ‘a pillar of strength’ was!
So how I recall farewell night of ere,
An edge of precipice called retirement,
A torture of hollow words hard to bear,
When overnight I felt a force nigh spent,
The night I acquired in my gait new bent.
________________________________________
Quintain (Tongue-in-cheek) |02.02.2013| remember
Poet’s note: To be fair to the company I worked for, my farewell function was nowhere so dull as this piece might suggest. But the truth is: I do not like farewells, soaked as they are in hypocrisy. I tried to avoid this one as much as I had a few earlier but failed.
Copyright © Aniruddha Pathak | Year Posted 2024
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