One Word of Truth

 K Radhakumar

2019.
2019 AD.
My presence here in this place
In the year of our Lord 2019
When I wonder about
My place in the cosmos –
Well, it’ll be forgotten in the year 2020,
Let alone a hundred years hence.

It’s not a question of narcissism
When I say every face is unique
Though not everybody has a handsome face;
My face is unique in the sea of humanity.
After I die
And die I’ll one day,
My appearance will be forgotten
And my voice will vanish without trace –
Not even a faint echo will outlive it by one day.

What will I do, then
Not to end this life in my death?
Posterity to remember me!
That’s not what I live for.
I live for my work
Which I do enjoying it,
Which comes naturally to me
And which I can do with what I am.
A work which answers who I am
A unique soul
Different from others in their multitudes.

Mon vieux, how do you remember Caesar?
Not for his exploits,
Not for his love life,
Not as one of the builders of the Roman empire!
I remember Caesar
Just for his exclamation
Et  tu, Brute
When he saw Brutus amongst his assassins.
That was in 44 BC
And here I am
Sixty years old in 2019.
It was not an isolated event
Located inside the space-time continuum.
In a flash of enlightenment
He saw the beginning and end of mankind:
The world began with love and friendship
And the world will end in love and friendship.
Here was one man
Fatally stabbed and dying
But who spoke one word of truth
For the good of all mankind.
The humanity of Caesar stands out
And this is Caesar to me.

No obscenity today
No obscenity in 2019 AD
And no obscenity till my last moment.
I wish I had the will power not to go astray;
I wish I had the courage to utter
One word of truth
Far beyond the realms of reason.