Ms Nita B. George is the Head, Dept of English, Vivek Vardhini Degree College, Hyderabad. Apart from writing poetry, she writes short stories for children of different age-groups. She has to her credit 130 poems on different themes.
45. The Metamorphosis
I am now an asexual
The metamorphosis is complete
From fruitful fertility
To barren desert
Dry, parched and sterile.
The bashful now transformed to
The coarse, churlish boor
Or
Would you call me a robot
An automaton that can do anything
From washing dishes to earning money.
Only,
The button of start and finish
Is in my own hands.
46. At 97
Playfully, I showed my palm
To the palmist of my class
In deep concentration she bent her head
"97 years", she said.
"3 more", I begged
She shook her head
"Your line stops dead, at 97"
Forty years are more to go
To reach the 97 mark
I sit alone to envisage
What 97 will embark.
My body bent
My eyesight gone
My mouth a gaping hole
The quivering hands
And worst of all
An empty, empty mind
Alone, I'll be
In an empty house
Perhaps you'll come
To sit with me
For half an hour or so
With blank eyes I will look at you
And you will gaze at me
You'll wonder where
My invincible spirit's gone
Lost perhaps
In these never ending years.
Then, you'll return to your happy home
And I to mine, alone.
