To Raghu, My Friend and My Poet!!


you
lie there like
an etherized poem on this patient’s bed!


your laughter
which mocked at death several times
is still ringing in my ears
carrying your unchallenged spirit!


the large knuckled fingers with swollen nerves
and the green ink pen
which poured your loneliness
into unending poems are still in my heart
weaving out veils of tears!


'our' raskolnikov, baudelaire, breytenbach,
marquez,
vosco popa, and 'our' most loved ‘prufrock song’
are still whispering our secrets!


you are here lifeless
leaving all yours with me – your words, memories and poems!


why didn’t you tell me even last night
that you had a plan to leave even before this december?


(composed on the sudden death of Gudihalam Raghunatham on 28th December 2010)


-Vijaya Babu,Koganti