Premkumar, Apoorva Phukan And I Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

In 1977 at Rajendranagar in Hyderabad,
The city of the White Moghuls,
Of Rebecca’s statue with marble veil,
We were in Institute of Rural Development.

Prem, Phukan and I were out walking
In the evening: with the seriousness
Of men in prime but yet growing up,
We discussed life and literature.

I took from Shakespeare’s sonnet
‘Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May’:
Apoorva who was also in Christian College
Was into the infinite moves on chess-board.

Prem of Loyal College of the Jesuits said,
Fight between evil and good is constant.
Our feeling was he was being childish,
Phukan and I didn’t believe in all that.

Years later I was convinced Prem
Was right, reinforcing Eliot’s
Perpetual struggle between good and evil
Wondering what is the next change!