Poetry

By

Anoucheka Gangabissoon

If only…

Of what use is living

if we have to keep toiling

struggling and sweating

merely for the sake of being?

Pray, to eat and live comfortably

to be sheltered and safe

to be in good moral and physical health

to be decent and socially acceptable

we do have to make so much effort

Working from the wee hours of the day

up to when stars stare back at us, always so silently

Working and working

caring never to take the time to sit in the meadows

and let the winds caress our hair

caring never to even glance up at those stars

and let tears fall, tears so perplexed at the complexity of life!

caring never even to sit and smile

while enjoying the lot we do have

being content and satisfied with it all!

Instead, we do all strive to live

we do all keep making so much effort

so as to sustain ourselves

so as to sustain our kin

so as to ensure our stay here is a fulfilled one!

Pray, if we lived, free, like cavemen

if we lived, free, like birds

if we lived, free, like highway fliers

like hippies

like flowers

like carefree dandelions

like the social misfits

Yes

If we lived, on berries and nuts

on roots and twigs

and, if we did get all the time we needed

to smile and laugh when the winds caress our skins in the meadows

or when butterflies, invigorated, would choose our noses to rest on

or when we would hold hands in a bond of brotherhood

and stare at the stars

just as they stare at us

pray

would life not have been heavenly?

Anoucheka Gangabissoon

I am Anoucheka Gangabissoon, a published poet both in print and on online poetry sites. You can read my works on poetrysoup.com and on my own blog, anoucheka.blogspot.com. I have also appeared in SETU and Different Truths.