The Man Who Came This Evening Poem by Ravikumar C.P.

Someone was here looking for me,
An acquaintance, friend, or relative.
My wife Gowri didn't care to find out;
She dismissed him with a negative.

Ours is a rented house; no palace, this;
No sign outside says In or Out.
So he knocked, this gentleman;
Wasn't proper to drive away a guest.

A relative? Perhaps. A friend? Could be.
He *knows* me? Bless his kindly heart!
She was too shy to ask his name -
Who could it be, no matter what?

Otherwise she is a chatterbox,
When she is home alone with me!
Why could she not open her mouth
And find out who he was? Silly!

As for me, I do the Nine to Five,
Come home beaten n' tired.
Whistling nevertheless, the thought of home
Is sweet, although my home is hired!

Gowri awaits me at the door step,
A smile adorns her lovely face.
As lovely as the bundle of joy
Who sleeps in the cradle, full of grace.

Well, that's all; these are my treasures.
With them I get by, one day at a time.
But sometimes strangers such as *him*
Will in this quiet ring a chime

And disappear! Why was he here?
Who could it be? Will he come again?
I asked Gowri a hundred times
And I asked her another time.

She repeated her answer,
And patient she was at that -
But finally she too threw up her hands
And told me to relax!

Take it easy; he will be back,
Whoever that he was.
Of this much I am certain,
He was not your boss!

With that remark she tried to put
Things in a lighter vein.
And said good night and closed her eyes,
Leaving me in pain!

I looked at her in disbelief,
A sleeping mother with her child.
Serenity lit up her lovely face
And in her dreams she smiled.

A cool wind blew. My eyes roamed
And settled on Gandhi's portrait.
India's dreams unfolded, brightening
The bedlamp's dimly light.

The man who came this evening,
My guardian angel could he be?
My friend, he said. A friend perhaps
Of all humanity?

He remembered me, dropped by to see,
He took pity and came.
A mountain was lifted off my head -
I have a chance to live.

People like him do not pay
A single visit, do they?
Can all the problems of this world
Be solved in just a day?

She was right, my Gowri was,
The visitor will come again.
It's people like him who bring to earth
The timely rain and shine.