Doldrums

                    D o l d r u m s

Something is cooking behind the screen!

A strange feeling overtakes me

There’s no assurance, no guarantee

Yet I’m building a castle brick upon brick.

I’m afraid to imagine the end

End makes redundant the living present

Just a new bark to cover the deadwood

And cover it for good

I don’t know, don’t have a clue.

No smell wafts across

Nobody whispers a word

Nothing casts a shadow, no footfalls heard

Aha! It’s not a spell of doldrums

It’s the lull before the storm

Preparation is afoot, perhaps

For the next scene

That’s the safest guess.

What’s that, so elaborate?

Trying to adjust the next occurrence

Just to suit my present?

To join from where I’ve left?

Or to contrast,

A fresh coat of pigment after a whitewash?

A meaningful sequence of sorts

Yet very random, with no rhyme, no reason?

Really, I don’t know, don’t have a clue

A rationale is ready for everything opposite

The higher logic to make possible everything.

Why things behind the scene so secret?

Surprise: that’s the name of the game

A pleasant surprise of sorts, or a rude shock

And the name of the game is cheating.

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By

A. N. Nanda

Shimla

11-03-2015

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