The Conversation

By Suman Kumar

People - friends/acquaintances sit with you,

They raise their cups and drink their coffee,

You raise your cup, take it to your lips

And find yourself engulfed in a conversation with yourself -

Looking out around your table blankly,

You wonder what the laughter is all about;

You want to say something but hold your tongue,

You tell yourself it's not appropriate to speak what you will,

People - their heads gleaming with ideas that escape them,

And their hearts happy for the silence of their minds,

You hold your tongue and thereby hold the peace,

You walk away from it all for a while

And find yourself engulfed in a conversation with yourself;

This world spins once,

You get into the tube to go home,

You stand/sit, take your book out while the chorus of inscrutability continues all around,

And you find yourself engulfed in a conversation with yourself;

At night, you reach your home when it's dark,

You sip your cardamom tea

Flitting through papers, as you usually do

You find that there are no stories better/worse than you have been telling yourself whole day,

And you find yourself engulfed in a conversation with yourself.

By Suman Kumar