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