When I woke up One Night

(Excerpts from a King’s Diary)

I ain’t any special one

My life was just a normal run

Verses below shall tale the plight

When, just like any other, I woke up one night.

A regular one, while not too bright

Through the subconscious, I pinched myself light

Casually i tried to lift aside

The scion left foot over the right

The left foot landed in no man’s land

My mouth felt like a pail of dry sand

A horror ran down through my spine

Right leg was missing till the knee line

I shoved upright my officious torso

One that boasted of its ego also

Frantically i searched for the missing part

Part that drove this human cart

Dejected i embraced my misery tight

When, just like any other, i woke up one night.

Excruciating pain i could feel it within

World will treat me as a pitiable sin

Can’t even fetch water to drink

How would i earn my imminent living?

Commiserating pals and kinsmen will surround

None to twig the misery, to which i am bound

A posture that poised, none dared to try

A head that always was held very high

Like a heap of flesh lied in fright

When, just like any other, I woke up one night.

From days to weeks to months on the cushion

Solitude helped me bring to fruition

A man may be born with a silver spoon

Retires to heavens but how many croon

Depends on how well you curbed the dearth

Fact is you pay back in the same birth

I may be a king but what am I now

A useless lump to which none shall bow

Doomed with this fate of an internal fight

When, just like any other, I woke up one night.

And one fine day, when I could take it no more

The day I realized how bliss will galore

 I clutched my right thigh with both my hands

On one leg I carried myself into the stands

The anxious crowd dead silent as I appeared

An ‘unworthy’ ‘coward’ ‘lame’ king ‘disfigured’

Addressing them with the learnings on the cushion

The crowd listened to me in an awe-struck fashion

From courts men, to cobbler; from merchant to knight

When, just like any other, I woke up one night.

Assurance that I gave my men from then on

The kingdom shall see yet another dawn

If a demolished man like I can rise

So can you, O’ my kinship wise

The day light awaits, clear your sight

Through perseverance, the passion you need to ignite

Set your horizons and strengthen your might

Just like your king when he woke up ‘that’ night