When I Come Back From Walks Poem by Raj Arumugam

when I come back from walks
or if people see me by the river
or if a couple I know walk past me
they hand in hand,
me with eyes closed and still
listening to some invisible bird
chirping in branches above,
sometimes some say:
see that sad man;
the lonely man in his walk…


ah friends, I say (and only if asked) ,
aloneness is not sadness
aloneness is not lonely
for the quiet is deeper
than the chatter
and the noise
and deeper still
than the bonds and memories