Anilbhai

Just back from a short vacation in Goa, so here's one about a co-volunteer who touched my life  at the  Samaritans suicide prevention helpline. He was tragically mowed down by a rash driver in Girgaum Chowpatty a few years ago.

ANILBHAI

Your weekend plan was to dedicate

your gentle voice to soothe the cruel waves of depression.

For more than a decade you strove with all your might,

Your callers never in your sight,

But your goals carefully laid down

And the ends and the means perfectly sound!

In that lay your unique self-fulfillment

And the joy that will always be yours!

You fell to an assassin’s careless whim

Who decided to cut your life short and trim.

He carries the deep knowledge of mortal sin

Whose banshee wail rises above the city’s noise and din!

But that gentle voice again soothes us

like another bright sunshine-filled Saturday

And our heavy angry hearts can at last see that

Forgiveness reigns!

I agonized over the title of this poem

Opulent phrases, decorated words,

Clever puns and meaningful metaphors

chased each other at frenetic lunatic speed.

Then I remembered!

Amidst all that worldly complexity,

You stood for splendid simplicity!

In deference, I bowed and called it just “Anilbhai”!

Antonio