A Mockery Poem by RIC BASTASA

how does it feel to be mocked at?
children chase you and laugh at you,
and call you crazy

you react, you want to be a child
and wanting to play and they mock you further
you're big enough to be their monster cookie

your friends say there is something wrong with you
in fact, everything is wrong
your nose not in its place and your face is twisted
at your back they say
this man is crazy
he must be reported to the police

one day you find your family disregarding you
you have become Kafka's cockroach and shall suffer
the same fate
as his short story

you are shooed
and outside you go
you walk by the side of the river and still whistle like
a man disregarded by the world

a cockroach, a pig, a crazy man on the street
returning to the big mountain deep in the forest
where no one sees you

you look at yourself on that still pond in the middle of this valley
you wonder

it is their face
you are the children playing
you are the image of your family
and they all look crazy too

in that solitude
you become yourself away from them

sane and yes, too poetic to behold
laurels on your head
flowers in your hair
dews on your skin
song in your lips