A Jigsaw Puzzle



With a couple of utensils,
A bundle of things, a sack,
A rusty box, a broken cradle,
And in sunken dreams,

With a couple of kids
In rugged clothes,
In cadaver conditions,
I saw a family at the station.

Where were they going?
Where was their final post?
What was behind their sighs?
What told their vacant looks?

I enquired - there was information
His mother was breathing her last.
There was urgency
To reach home at the earliest

It was a couple of days’ travel,
They were crossing hills and dales.
Further the plains, beyond the ravines
They were challenging real distances.

A casual laborer, a contract,
A trench worker, rootless life
Sunny ways, toiling days,
Gypsy life and endless strife

But, from the deep skies
It was the call of the womb.
Winding up the contract
Now, it was farewell to these winds….

At last, the train arrived
And they were on their wheels.
With a couple of lingering eyes
They forever left from my shores.

Alone on the platform,
I was in deep distress.
Will he see his mother alive?
Or ashes are awaiting him?

Man hath certain inevitable inns,
Man hath certain promises to keep.
He is facing many deadlines,
Life is forever a jigsaw puzzle.
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Written on December 26, 2013

Submitted by ravi_panamanna on January 11, 2024

1:15 min read
7

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXBX XXXC XXDX CXXX BXXX EFXF DXEX XXDX XXXX XXXBA
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,212
Words 250
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5

Ravi Panamanna

My actual name is Subramanian A. I am a retired official of the State Bank of India. Settled in Palakkad, Kerala, India. My literary awards include The Barath Award for Literature (best story), and the Poiesis Awards both in Poetry and short story, all conducted jointly by Xpress publications.com. My interests cover photography, philosophy, and science. Google search under Ravi Panamanna would take the searcher to my various links. more…

All Ravi Panamanna poems | Ravi Panamanna Books

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    "A Jigsaw Puzzle" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/178438/a-jigsaw-puzzle>.

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