A Funny Tale of a Crazy Couple

                         

                         

                 

1        Jacob worked once as a librarian for forty years

        Full forty years he spent in a dust-ridden cell cold

        Surrounded by so many books and journals old

        He spent his time sitting silently in a nook

        Accustomed to musty smell of old bulky books

        He had not read them nor even had a look

        He dozed off so many years in dismal silence

        Now he is retired, but felt no difference.

 

2       His wife Jane an ambitious woman and wise

Found her husband did nothing but sleep day and night

He is too dull and unresponsive to know about his plight

Whatever he did seemed to her vain and imprecise

She could not bear his lazy and idle presence

He is a good-for-nothing bloke lacking common sense

She scanned his every act with ten thousand eyes

Faulting his every move like a spy in disguise.

 

3       If he stands still and views with vacant looks 

She shouts, “Why do you stand like a stone?

If he sits and looks at stars alone

She shouts, “why do you sit like a duck in the nook;

Whatever he mumbles, she never cares to hear

Too much used to her harsh words, he tried not to clear

Her doubts; his stubborn silence provoked her more

Stone deaf to her abuse he remained as before.

 

4       Very rarely he engaged himself in verbal fight

With his spouse but could not get success;

Before her sharp-piercing volley of curses

Which cut into his heart and made him retreat with fright

But both their lives are welded together and now

They can’t escape whether they hate or love

Fixed like the legs of a measuring compass;

They have to bear with each other, gain or loss.

 

5       Like a panther hiding behind, with stretched claws

Looking for a chance she used to watch and wait;

Or like a fisherman waiting for his catch with his bait

Ever ready to pounce on him to pick out his flaws

He too waited like a confounded hare to escape

With shy smiles, to keep himself in good shape;

As she did not hesitate to dress him down

To save his status he kept mum and did not frown. 

 

6       Others derived delight by their dramatic fight

A merry comic scene for them without expense;

Lack of understanding and mutual trust made them tense

They did not know how they lost their image bright

Lack of communication skills and mutual respect

Made them too critical, fault-finding and suspect

The crazy couple never thought how they lost

Their respect when they cursed without forethought.

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  17th December 2025                      Somaseshu Gutala

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                    

Starting Point

 

         

1                       Even after so many years we are far away

To reach our goal; no progress at all

Still, we rise and fall and often we fall

We have not started, we have not found our way

We felt puzzled and do not know where we stand

Years slid away fast like fine grains of sand

Our world-obsessed mind with stress and strain

Our worthless worries, our stamina drain.

 

2                      We are moving in circles; we come back

To the point from where our journey began;

We struggle here and there and lack vision and plan

Though we spent many years, initiative we lack

Our words are high; our minds, too weak to ransack

And choose the proper means to track our progress

No change in our attitude; we transgress

The bounds of conscience; but like beasts we stray

Roaming aimlessly around against what we say.

3                      What our destiny will be, we do not know

Let us not fret about what we will get

Though slow our progress, let us not get upset

Though we may not rise high, we get what we sow

Like glowworms flicker in night with feeble glow

God guides our ways; let us believe in His grace

He who leads millions of stars in limitless space;

One step forward, God will give you a gigantic leap

Worry not about future, too obscure and deep.

 

4                       Though our ways differ, our destination same

From different points our journey we start

With different attitudes and thoughts

In this vast creation we are like toys in a game

Life’s sudden turns and twists we should not blame

Vex not about our far away uncertain ends

On earnest will and steps, our future depends

If you falter and too many mistakes you make

To set right them, too many lives you have to take.

                                    *****************

   7th December 2025            Somaseshu Gutala