Workaholic Poem by Venkateswaran Krishnan Sreenivasan

I bury my worries in my mundane works
I swear I am a workaholic
Though not a maniac or alcoholic
Painfully aware that in my veins, karoshi lurks

My call of duty wakes me up at four
Every morning at this early hour
To finish the household chores of churning
The curd and then kitchen cleaning

Then I go for a walk for fitness sake
And combine grocery shopping in its wake
Aware that walking on our roads is a risky farce
As adventurous as journey to Mars

Cleaning the toilet to remove fecal stains
And the drains and manholes before the rains
Scrubbing the pathway of moss and slime
And sweeping the yards in every clime

Exercise involved in physical exertion
Excites my intellectual excursion
Exuding exhilaration
Exaltation and exultation

Work and worship transcend us in a ship
On a voyage in the sea of kinship and friendship
To widen the horizon of our vision
In this world of envy, greed and affliction