No comfort of things, however slick,
Does old age quite suffice.
I would my fanciest placebo yield
For the comfort of a voice.
Dying is not the worst scare,
Lack of converse is.
To be left to one’s device
Is a hell without remiss.
Life is not lived with bank balance,
Or the smartest gadgetry.
A storm of syllables seeking soul
Speaks our throb to be.
Badri Raina
Badri Raina is a well-known commentator on politics, culture and society. His columns on the Znet have a global following. Raina taught English literature at the University of Delhi for over four decades and is the author of the much acclaimed Dickens and the Dialectic of Growth. He has several collections of poems and translations. His writings have appeared in nearly all major English dailies and journals in India.
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