The True Calling

By Arima Gupta

You may cheat on me once.

You may cheat on me twice.

But you know I am someone,

whom nobody likes.

I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this,

Though most people find themselves hindered in believing me

No matter my protestations and how much I resist.

I can be cheerful; I can be sad.

Just don’t ask me to be nice,

That’s one trait I never had.

Where are my manners?

I should introduce myself properly

but that’s not important I guess

Afterall, this is not my story.

Let me tell you a tale, about a man, whom I never knew,

But still fell in love because of all the things he could do.

He would go on long adventures and dance with the moon,

And study day and night until it was everything he knew.

He would write letters to opportunities and knock numerous doors,

Taking each one of them carefully

And making them his own.

Then, there was his friend, who had no idea what he should do

And spent every day trying to figure out what he could do.

He lived his life thinking I would just do it tomorrow

And this is how his opportunities from broad turned narrow.

When he saw, me, for the first time,

Well last time as well,

He grieved for more hours and had a depressed expression

And that’s all I can tell.

You know, many people whom I have met on my way,

They said they never got a chance

to express what they wanted to say.

I have stopped counting the number of people who say this to me.

It’s like every second soul weeping at me.

This wound of remorse takes several years to cure

And it’s not easy to forget it

That’s for sure.

It’s like you think your life is a pen,

With which you write on and on

And it will not harm if you leave some pages in between,

Afterall your life is long.

It’s when you see me,

You always regret

That you should have filled those pages

With bright sunsets.

By Arima Gupta