The Joker and the Joke

Hi ppl,

I was away on a bicycle trip to Konkan over the last week...It was more of therapy than holiday...taught me a lot of lessons...made me push harder and farther than I ever had...inpired me to write and I do plan to write about that...not today though...

This is something I wanted to write way back in college...but then dint...for watever reasons...but then something happened and my inspiration to write this piece was up again (although in a different form and spirit than I would have earlier written).


Sometime back it was
of this joker I knew
a pleasure to be with
such people, by Lord, are few!

Oh! The tricks and the talks
and the drama that freely flowed
a never ending repertoire
of striking colours and soothing mellows

The stage, the smile, and
the carefully put together lines
engaged the audiences, big and small
as I fondly remember the times

What a sight it was
to see the artist in play
as he set the tone and pace
and went about his ways

and then towards the end
the curtains drew, up rose the smoke
in the joy and merry of it all
merged the joker and the joke

As he quietly slid backstage
and removed the smile
we exchanged pleasantries
occasionally he feebly smiled

Often we walked home together
not much did he speak
that is how I knew him to be
uneventfully passed many weeks

Then one day he disappeared
no letter, no last word
none knew where he went
no more delightful evenings were had

The audience asked me
Where is he? Will he be back?
I knew they sorely missed him
and knew he won't be

Lucky as I have mostly been
I knew the man behind the smile
to not have been so,
would have missed him by a mile

Today, after a long time
I got a letter for him
a toast raised to the times
that he had been

I read, smiled and shelved it
didn't reply lest raise false hopes
smiled cause I knew
the joker and the joke.