MIND's ATTIC

                                   By Ranjan Mathews [Published in Asian Age dtd. 1st Sept.'96]

                    When the day Stallion

                    Meets the Nightmare

                    And breaks into a canter

                    I peer down the Mind's Attic

                    To mop up the cobwebs

                    That cocoons skeletons in the cupboard.

                    My cup of sorrows overflow

                    Meandering in vicious curves

                    Cutting corners and silting the edges,

                    Was there a way ? I wonder

                    As I lay in the Ox-Bow lake

                    Cut off from the Mainstream.

                    Perhaps the lake could cascade

                    Like shimmering gossamers

                    And burst its wilted banks

                    Gushing towards the primal river

                    Drowning the sorrows

                    In a seminal Death-embrace.

                    But alas ! the fossil's carbon-dated

                    Can't make the clock flash-back

                    Its better the steeds of Time takeover

                    Galloping at breakneck speed

                    Before the spider makes a fast job

                    Of the Attic boarded and sealed forever !