BB Agarwal - Startling Imagery

Without My Body—BB Agarwal

When I returned home this evening

a strange incident happened:

nobody noticed me.

My wife did not ask me for tea

my children too kept away from me

my servant, showing great impertinence

kept on cleaning the floor

as if I did not exist.

Well, am I here or not?

Suddenly, then, I realize

with a feeling of great astonishment.

My body is missing.

I want to switch on the radio –my hands are missing.

I want to speak –my mouth is gone!

I have vision, alas! no eyes.

I can think – but my head is missing

So…How have I returned home?

Slowly I started to understand:

I left my mind in the office accidentally while heading home.

My hands still hanging from the bus strap.

My eyes still scanning the office files;

my mouth stuck to the telephone.

And my feet left standing in a queue, no doubt.

That's how I returned home today, without my body.

Vision of a bodiless life

is the essence of Indian philosophy

But is the exhaustion weighing down the bodiless me

also a part of it all?

(Translated from Hindi by Abhay K.)

I like the arresting imagery. We all do this - mind elsewhere, while being physically present.

This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z