Self-Analysis Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

I go quiet mostly in a party,
Don’t speak, unless with women.
Persons with sense of humour,
Knowledge, fund of anecdotes
Dominate the conversation:
I listen politely, respond to men,
Not in a hurry to express my view
Simply because I don’t have one.

Only on specific areas connected
With my jobs or convictions,
I have some definite views.
And there too it is not always
That I feel like talking out.
I may be considered strange,
But I don’t live for others, or
Live affected by their views.

I am blamed for being too concerned
About the others to the extent
Of giving up my rights
Or putting myself to inconvenience.
But that is generally among strangers
Or in the public, the marketplace:
But in a party, to which officially invited,
I am quiet, cannot speak interestingly.

I have lived for nearly forty years
In administration in important jobs;
I have seen many Prime Ministers
And Chief Ministers, other ministers,
Bureaucrats, artists, industrialists,
Commoners, criminals, jailors
Students and Union leaders: can it be
I express myself only if it serves?