(Poem)
I used to smile
When success was mine
Those were days
When no hypocrite I was.
I was young
An innocent boy
Didn't hide emotions
And needn't have done so.
I could tell anyone
That I liked him or her
I was a child.
Now that I am not
They tell me
That I shouldn't love.
I used to celebrate my birthdays
And often wondered
Why my parents
Didn't celebrate theirs?
My eyes were young
And my mind's eyes too
All I could see
Was 'Children and Grown-ups'.
But now I can see
Christians, Hindus, Muslims.
Wish I were young forever.
I used to run
Back from school
To play what we called
A game of cricket.
But now I watch TV
To see someone else play
The thamasha that is modern cricket.
It has been years
Since I last played
Out there in the yard
And soiled my clothing.
It has been ages
Since I last
Drenched myself in rain.
Hardly surprising though:
Now I am a man.
When I cry
Tears don't roll down
As they used to do.
But I do cry more often.
Heaven is up above
And hell deep under,
I was told.
But now I know:
Hell is here, and
Heaven I am still searching.
And the heavens we are searching for
Blacks and Whites
Hindus and Muslims
The heavens so beautiful
Are one and the same, I'm sure.
Wasn't it in the same voice
That we all cried
When our parents
First left us at School?
