Problems Unbidden

By Rajiv Khandelwal

Problems

Are like the tide

They come

They retreat

But never quite vanish

Today’s problem

Was neither the colostomy bag

Nor the whooping cough

It was the baby mice

Scaling Mom’s bed

Dashing to her feet

Frightening her

Sending her heart into a wild race

The whole day

It terrorized her

Now here

Now there

But never

In the carefully laid trap

My problems swelled

When her nurse

Took a holiday

Like a shadow slipping away

Silent, without a word

Leaving me with an unplanned sudden duty

Fresh problems arrived unbidden

Like thieves in the dead of the night

When electricity workers

Greased with bribes

Ignoring tenants piling bills

Like weeds in a well-tended garden

Till they grow fat with interest

Then landlords, like us

Under threats of disconnection

Are compelled to pay

In this corrupt country

Will the mice ever retreat?

Like echoes in a canyon

Or will their signatures forever haunt?

By Rajiv Khandelwal