Closely Observed Trains

Would you believe it

that "Closely Observed Trains"

was a film's name

in Nineteen Sixty-eight?

It was critically acclaimed,

an Academy Award winner,

even before I was conceived

one early winter.

But four decades later

I am changing slowly.

There are white streaks

in my sideburns,

a morbid fear creeps up

when I meet loved ones

as if one of us will pop off

before next such loved moment.

I recently discovered

that my body speaks too.

I am distinct from it,

I am not what it is.

And now I sleep nursing dreams

of six-pack abs, youthful hair,

of rising early, jogging anywhere...

But strangely when I drive on the stretch

saddled between Nizamuddin and Yamuna's stench

I closely observe trains that I do not intend to catch.

© February 18, 2008 Dan Husain