Wheelchair Whammy

No broken spine, no fractured femurs
No Parkinson, no torn ligaments 
Not paralyzed from the waist down    
Why this guy needs   Wheel chair 
Hopefully co passenger’s wonder             
I was sitting in numb despair.                                                                    

For the physically disabled young and old
For super senior citizens week and tired
who needed it the most I used to pity 
I never thought I will need it at sixty
My impaired heart made it necessity 
Watched those did not need at ninety
Envied them for being hale and hearty. 
                                  
Alas! now I became an object of pity
All along the corridors in airport
When my beloved walked as an escort
Guilt of being privileged haunted me most
Wheel Chair was my constant blight
Felt public mocking at my plight
Sensed people stare at me curse me
Since I was short circuiting the queue.

Remembered the life of great intellect 
Stephan Hawking the physicist, cosmologist 
Paralyzed due to motor neuron disease
Who mesmerized with his thoughts on universe
Spent the entire life   in wheel chair                                          
What’s so great for me to spend few hours
 Moving in airport walkway corridors. 
                                 …………Narayan Gadagkar
Copyright © | Year Posted 2026

Poem

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