Poem - When You are an Old Man (circa early 2000s)

When you are an old man

You will raise chickens;

Not so old

That you cannot care for them yourself

But old enough

To enjoy with leisure

Their soft sleepy sounds.

I see you now

As though through a window

Into time:

As morning paints the houses

In colors, bright as rangoli,

You lead your pota by the hand

To help you feed the chickens.

You watch

As he throws them greens,

The smoke from your cigerette

Drifting as lazy as an eagle

And you sigh,

Content

That in these golden years

Of your life

Mornings bring to you

The sounds of laughter

And chicken cackles,

Mingling like a heartbeat

With the sounds of your birth city.