Poem: The Road that I Seek

The Road that I Seek

Photograph courtesy Mukund P Rao

The Road that I Seek

I stand beside a road,

With fields of rice on either side of me,

And the road, it stretches as far as my eye can see.

It appears as though it’s late dusk,

Or it might be dawn; I’m not quite sure,

The mist is like a heavy drape all around,

And the light is faint and things barely perceptible.

All of a sudden I notice that there is a lady standing alongside me,

She queries as to what destination I seek,

I know not my reply and appear hesitant.

Then comes a bus,

One, then another and another,

I signal them to stop but they pay no heed to my calls,

I go and stand in the middle of the road and they pass right through me.

The places seem eerily familiar,

They remind me of a map which I had once seen a long time ago,

There being a path, over which the one must pass to be judged on Judgment day,

And the fields of paradise on one end,

And at the centre the throne of God.

I walk a little towards one end,

Then walk back in the opposite direction;

Unsure of where I go.

I turn back and the lady is still behind me,

I notice a bus coming in from the horizon,

The lady turns towards me and whispers,

‘Son, you must decide where you wish to go,

Only then can you go somewhere.’

I ponder over a her words of wisdom;

The bus has come and gone,

And my eyes trail its path;

Near its rear I spy a familiar figure,

And when I turn over the lady has disappeared,

I look back at the bus and see a face,

A lady smiling.

Another bus follows,

And I find myself inside it,

I am probed as to where I wish to travel to,

I reply,

And am told that the journey is long and arduous,

I shrug my shoulders and reply that I’m game.

I wake up,

It was a dream,

I look across to my left and glance outside the window,

It is still dark but there is a light on one end of the horizon,

I pray that it be a dawn and not dusk.

Mukund Palat Rao (February 28, 2011)