A Whimsical Oxymoron Poem by Ananta Madhavan

In the Republic of Nowhere-Anywhere,
The Acting President ordained
That illness should be abolished.
The State had built five new hospitals
And decreed that citizens should run them well.

A TV anchor, a panelist and an op-ed column
Opined that "Time would tell" if this would do.
Besides, it would render doctors, nurses,
And healers of all faiths superfluous.

A wise old scholar was brave enough to say:
"Time will tell" is a feeble excuse,
Because Time tells us nothing of any use.
We have invented the personage called Time
And put words in its mouth.
We make of it an oracular prophet,
And interpret portents and histories,
Forgetting that Time is a fantasy,
An oxymoronic artifice merely,
A whimsical myth imagined by itself.


- - - - -



- - -