I looked at myself in the mirror
And saw a fool staring back at me,
As big a damn fool as could be!
I was taken aback by the rather nasty surprise,
It ruffled my ego I suppose!
But on calmer reflection
It dawned upon me
That it was really my phenomenal follies
The mirror mirrored,
My runaway desires,
My wistful longings,
My abandoned dreams,
My wasted emotions,
My unseemly haste,
My lack of spine
When I needed it most,
My loss of nerve at crucial hours,
My rambling talk
Without any matching walk,
My lazy morality,
My lackadaisical ways,
My wayward fancies,
My jumbled thoughts,
Contadictions galore,
My chipping away at the truth
And hollowing it out,
My brazen offence
Without anything worthwhile to defend,
My frequent lying to save my skin
Or to skirt some confrontation that truth demanded,
My wilful paralysing inaction
When there was a crying need for action,
My verbosity when maturity demanded
Fewer words or silence,
My impulsiven outbursts
When discretion asked for more restraint,
And so on and on and on.
Hence the fool
Staring back at me in the mirror!
Arun Bhagat
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