To Your Wah! Wah! Poem by Prof.Hrushikesha Mohanty

If you say Wah! Wah! To everything I do
even though I like to hear it
but fear of long dark hands of ‘wah wah’
that may drag me
down and down.


Still at times being undetected
that shapeless thirst grabs me
at the dark of shadows
instigating me to hear and record
all what you say
to drink it later
and to relish it at my leisure.


If you rarely even say ‘wah! wah! ’ to me
when we meet at our office canteen
or at the suburb market
I wish to offer you a tea
or a sugarcane stick
expecting – eventually you will be pleased
so that a ‘wah’ will escape
through your front two teeth
during your unending chats.


If you neither say ‘wah! wah! ’ nor
you visibly avoid me
I encircle you with hope
wearing red shirts and escorting you
through shopping malls
expecting one ‘wah! ’ at least will dropp off
your mouth
before you reach your home.


If you ruthlessly say ‘NO’ to tell me
‘wah! wah!
should I feel wrong of my followings,
feel ashamed or curse my fate
to count the coins left in my purse!





I will ask myself why did you say ‘no’
to understand how
I lost myself to my village banyan tree,
why
I can only purchase dry oranges in suburb market
and
to loose all - for the torn bag I have,
the way
the plasters fell off my walls
at the whispers of my neigbours!


***


Hrushikesha Mohanty
7th March 2009.