As If --- a Poem

As If

By Mahbubul Karim (Sohel)
August 28, 2004


As if it had never happened
As if it had never existed
As if it was a prank, stunt
or a second-rated fiction
found in dusty paperback
in a dilapidated bookstore
abandoned by nose-high academics

As if you and I were slanted
As if you and I was confounded
As if you and I were blunt
from witnessing tumbling friction
between stingy cat and rat
playing hide and seek for a galore
of popcorn bound crowd and polemics

Histrionically speaking ---
What if it did happen
What if it did exist
What if it was the Truth
not a melodramatic romance novel
smudged with tears
of cheated, cheating wives?

Now comes the hardest part
It must be told
as it unfolds
in a world of reality
under sun or light of moon
"Truth shall set you free"
swoon a worn out line, dying cliché
Truth shall set you free
in dungeon or iron bar
tucked aside from afar, scrutiny
in crocodile guarded land
of free and haunted animals,
caged and groomed
for public satisfaction