Farewell

~~~

A last call for a drink at

La Salamandra on minus 27.1016, Quinta Feira at 7:30 pm;

Read further, must you aspire, to tread on a

Trampoline of words;

The same words that hold such immense power

and makes Solitude and Silence truly blasphemous.

~

The farewell, it is. It will be.

We’ll all have one, eventually, don’t we?
I mean, depart from the places we live,

From the people we Love, cherish and pine for;

Leaving behind many aspirations and dreams,

And carrying with us a potpourri of memories,

That we call upon, when, usually, in pensive mood ?

~

And at times, a strange thought arrives, almost choking,

Almost making one gasp for a bout of fresh air and deeply pondering,

‘What’s all this for’ ? Thereafter, arises questions such as:

‘Is Love a feeling of being forlorn and being content at the same Time ?

I shall leave this discussion for another occasion.

~~~

On the midnight on Friday, as I sit on the aeroplane at Guarulhos,

I shall ponder over remembrances of many a thing past.

A luscious fruit is most savoured.

Time well-spent is fittingly remembered.

~

Little did I know as I stepped down from the plane on 22 Oct 2014

That a special relationship will blossom between nosso Brasil & I.

~~~

I earnestly say farewell to that young man who pushes

the wheel chair that holds

The delicate framework of an aged & fragile old man.

Time has moulded him permanently and irreversibly.

~

I must say farewell to the old man who walks uphill, alone,

With his shoulders drooped, carrying a plastic sack on either hand,

With a newspaper clasped between his thumb and the forefinger, never once

Looking up at the marvellous blue Summer sky;

Time has burdened him watchfully and thoughtfully.

~

Farewell to the old woman who walks every day from Moradia

To the hospital, always cheerful and always alive,

And peering at everything along the way.

Time has aged her gracefully.

~

I must, for sure, bid farewell to the splendid aroma from the jaca

And manga, that pervade the streets and the courtyards

On a hot summer day, so much so that the bees go into a trance

And fall from the sky like rain drops on a dark winter evening.

~~~

Farewell to the students and others I encountered

Over these two years,

Who toil all alone for many hours including weekends,

To progress in the strata of Life.

~

Farewell to the professors

and others I know less of, who must care for their family and students,

Write grants and scientific papers, and teach at 9 pm on a Friday evening,

All the while accept rejections and bear the indifference of students with nonchalance.

~

Farewell to the Lab managers and others whose names

I know not but faces I am familiar with,

Who take on multiple roles in the laboratory,

As a friend, co-worker, teacher, with great pleasure.

~

For many a thing I must say goodbye to,

That I shall not be able to list them all. In this age of information,

which Time has shaped ruthlessly, what more could I say

Other than a heartfelt Thank You;

~

Thank you for enabling me to discover myself,

As well as the frailties of human beings;

That doing research is a miniscule segment in this Journey called Life;

This life which always endeavours to understand the Human mind;

The same mind that maketh man Love and Hate at the same Time.

~~~