My Altered Vocation
Like little iron-particles getting fast attracted to,
Any bit magnet: rough or rude or smooth or old or new;
So too I got bewitched and swayed by any new action,
That in any way or form gave psychic satisfaction...!
That feeble news-vendor who dropped newspapers on our door,
That soothsayer on narrow by-pass wayfarer-road floor;
That hawker about the road; snake-charmer; cleaner, sweeper,
I wished to be all... wanted too, to be a door-keeper...!
Having turned a young energetic youth, blood very hot,
When for anything I thought, better, tit-for-tat gun-shot;
Need of protecting my nation from all enemies seemed,
The greatest of vocation, I found; for which, so far, dreamed...!
I could not get through the tough selection to the army,
Owing, I do not know, what folly was truly in me;
Obsessed, I traveled with my kin, who got chosen for war,
Assisted him, as though a steward, his laurels to soar more...!
In teaching, like thread-broken-kite, at last, I got landed,
Zeal and zest, by now, had got slumped; my aims had got stranded;
Professor, they called, lecturer; and ironic big names,
Restlessness of mission-tangles, like apes, in me, played games...!
I dealt with them, like a cold-allergic dealing with ice,
Or like puritans finding, everyone else, filled with vice;
It's when students of back-benches, like porcupines, pounced,
My zeal to impart them wisdom new, got in me bounced...!
I love each slowest of slow-learning disciple, today,
As a true teacher, I show them many a newer way;
I see my students, slowly, climbing ladders of success,
I stand aside; wish them good bye; pray; and heartily bless...!
18 January 2022
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