The Naked Smile

                        K Radhakumar

It is a cliché to say
I come with nothing
And with nothing I will go.
It takes all these years
Before I realize the truth.
The hustle and bustle of an Indian airport!
I sit alone in a corner of the departure lounge
And feel very lonely;
The truth sinks in
Like never before.
 
How I come here –
There’s nothing I can do about it.
But I often wonder
What I am
And why I am here.
I hear myself ask –
Ready for your going
Since you will go
Any day, any time?

Yesterday is yesterday;
It’s dead and gone
And is beyond repair.
All things change
And we with them;
If we don’t
We are as good as dead.
I have to stop to be a man
Living in the past.

Tomorrow is dark
And this my own future
I construct it today.
Reality is the gap
Between one’s dearest wish
And what actually turns out.
Real life is full of such gaps.

I am very much mistaken about life.
Why, I have a friend here.
What a great thing it is
To have a small place in somebody’s heart!
What can I give to life
For all the things it has given me?
I have spent my life with my nearest and dearest
And I will die a peaceful death
Secure in the knowledge
There will be flowers
Or a candle burnt on my grave.