New Year Verses

I
So, you’ve finished your job then
And in a hurry to go back?
Wait, your reliever is on his way
Maybe reaching here any moment.
Don’t tell him for god’s sake
All that you had to see during your stay
Let him start with an open mind
Let him do his work his way.
 It’s a must to forget one’s yesterday
If one is up to doing things anew
Or else the same sun will shine
To expose our misdeeds of gone moments.
Why are you in a hurry to go back?
It’s matter of mere one day
Enjoy the last moments of your existence
While we mourn for our moments wasted.
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II
Last evening it rained
To wash us clean of all our dirt
For it knew we’re readying for the New Year.
If it had not rained?
Well, it would have made us cry
We would have cried losing our face
And a little more to soak our towels
And then undergone ablutions
For cleansing our smeared souls.
For all the year round
We did so much and so wholehearted
And all of them from our dingy hideout
Very surreptitiously and everything secret
A thief is no thief if not caught
It’s not his crime if the sufferer goes silent
Everybody looked the other way
And we merrily went ahead.
Now the New Year will arrive here
All of us are clean now thanks to the shower
We’re ready to do everything anew
We all have now a washed face.
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III
In this brand New Year
The twelve of them have faded and buried here
Since this millennium had set foot on the earth
I want to do something new…
I want to light a bonfire
In this brand New Year.
A big bonfire with billowing smoke
The smoke to make it white all around
The flame to devour their big talks
Of the small souls yapping all through the year
The warmth to melt all the fear
I want to light a bonfire
In this brand New Year.
Come, all of you with a newspaper
The newspaper of the yesteryear
And consign them to the flame ablaze here
I want to light a bonfire
In this brand New Year.
Or else how do we forget the past?
The old newspaper will cover our books
Even if we buy it all anew
The old toothbrush will leave the dirt
The old purse has still the black…
Oh no, don’t jump into it so hurriedly
It’s burning, true, but not yet a funeral pyre
It’s just a bonfire, it’s simple and clear
For all our old newspaper
Of the fast fading yesteryear.
In this brand New Year
I want to do something new…
I want to light a bonfire
For all our old newspaper
In this brand New Year.
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By
A N Nanda
Coimbatore
1-1-2013
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