A STOLEN WATCH AND A MATCHLESS ACT…

                                            ... Sublime tribute to all my teachers

My job or my name not the topic of concern here,

An invitee for my bosom friend’s nuptial function, 

Yours truly arriving early, on time to be there, 

My role, welcome the invitees for the reception . 

   

An old man in his late seventies, too  arrived on time, 

The sight of his gait and height, triggered my brain,  

He was our teacher in secondary school, in his prime,

Memory in rewind, I was rushing to meet him again.

We exchanged the civilities, I queried his memories, 

Firstly giving my years under his tutorship and all,

Reviving an incident in the class, stirring  his queries,

He recollected the same after a few minutes in stall.

A mate in my class, lost his new wrist watch one day,
A  watch, his first one  in those rare  days of yore,

Was  missing after the luncheon break to his dismay,

The teenager was yelling in agony as never before.

This teacher entered the class, clueless to this plight,
After a moment of silence, consoled the crying  boy,

Boys in my class ordered to stand up, I lost my sight,

 Oh! The watch in my pants, I was  a frightened toy.

Plead for a watch a week ago, my parents negated,

Found this watch from a play area, kept in my pant,

Teacher ordered  everyone to keep our eyes closed, 

Fears of  humiliation and theft  was too imminent. 

Teacher searched all and asked us to open our eyes,

The teacher all in smile, showed the shining watch,

He never looked at me, yet the boy got his lost gift,

Till this day, none yet knew who stole the watch.  

This was the teacher I met after two decades today,

Who saved my blushes, transformed my  character,

Was a different boy thereafter, never once astray,

This act of his taught me lessons, one after another.

Remember, once caught red handed in every  crime,

Demoralizes the victim before the society as well, 

After my schooling, I forgot  this man of sublime,

Until this day, his nobility indeed reigned my will.

    

As I narrated  the  incident, his face  did beam in joy,

I couldn’t hide my feels, how he traced  the snatch,

Knowing the truth, why did  he hide to save my day,

Teacher said, he too never knew who had the watch.

I was bewildered, asking him, how it did happen,

The teacher was calm and firm in his answer too,

How could one see, when his eyes were closed then,

None saw, yet the  owner got the lost watch too.  

 

The sculptor, here, shaped the raw stone to remodel,

Chiseling the edges, infusing life into it to perfection,

Correcting the flaws, instilling  moral values to citadel, 

My doubts answered for ever, I revere thy profession.                

MIRROR SYNDROME

Rewound  my yester years when I read this word mirror, in fact,

May be five  then, when I saw my own face in front of a piece,

Myths prevailed those days, kids oft pulled away from this act,

Custom continues in some parts of our country, please excuse.

Umpteen times we all stood, before that wonder piece of silica,

Dressing, rehearsing, beautifying the dress or the facial touch,

Handled many a time as an oculist, screening eyes with  myopia,

Never ever heard such a giant killer of fetuses, rare, I vouch.    

This pregnant lady in her twenties, primi as we call for that stage,

Bloated, swollen feet and an unusual tummy of second trimester,

No ails until this phase, the worries of miscarriage looming large,

Scanned, scoped and tapped the amnion, to avoid the disaster.

Many brains shook  to ponder the cause, the uterus was high up, 

Amniotic fluid aplenty , swollen placenta and the  fetus in distress,

Maternal edema down, coins  the mirror image fetal edema up,

Placental edema making the triple edema adding to the stress.  

                        

Ballantyne’s syndrome was henceforth given the new  sobriquet, 

Cause unknown, fetal teratoma, Rh factors, or a fetal anomaly, 

May have a say, yet the medical fraternity needs a bouquet,

The real mirror of a clinician is curing every  case in jeopardy.  

Here a doctor outscores  other  technical men in any field of life,

This case, none predicted this much, save, a routine parturition,

Yet the glory uncertainty of child birth, and obstetrical strife,

We, yours truly included bow ourselves before, for their elation

  A TOWER-ING EXPERIENCE

   

 

Memories flashed upon my inward eye, yet again,

Sight of this giant species, indeed a spectacle,

Anytime, anywhere, breathtaking, never  in refrain,

For a sexagenarian, it remains still a receptacle.

The stimulus, a report, about these moving towers, 

The giraffe paradox, my batch mates’  reference, 

This ignition, fueling the tiring weekends’powers, 

A comparison  with human heart  in preference.  

We feel, ignorance is bliss, even worse, this reveals,  

Dwarfed  at times, aren’t we!, many  a time every day,

Many a thing we see, yet we never bother  the scales, 

So, giraffe will detail his vital statistics to our dismay. 
                                     

The tallest mammal on land, Oh! thrice your height,

Two hundred stones and heavier than my fair lady,

Neck, my supreme organ, two feet long serves right,  

Nuchal thrust aids my feast, leaves falling as prey .  

                            

Purplish prehensile tongue, imparting  powerful ways,

Leaves helping me instead, giving me  the hydration,

Few sips here and there quenches my thirst, for days,

Long neck helping the natural pollen dissemination,

Heart, my power horse, pumps one liter every second,

Ten times your own heart’s power, indeed  a miracle, 

The jugulars with valves prevent a vascular rebound,

The rete mirabile  stalls the fluctuant cerebral debacle. 

These ossicones, I gain more over her for supremacy,

Horns help me ‘Necking’ her in the duel that ensues, 

She conceives mostly once in her life time, for months,

Fifteen months gestation, my baby falling from height.  

                                 

Our kids mostly die in first year, once born, active soon,

I consume more, seventy pounds every day, all leaves,

I do have four chambered stomach, I take heavy lunch, 

 My speed, over thirty miles, leaves you gasping for sure.

 I know I am hunted, yet ,face to face, I can even kill a lion,

Unlike you, I live only half your life, my sojourn so short,

I score over  you, so much, our  lady feeds  many a calf,  

We move as tower, stand tall in charisma, how about you?  

Note: 

one stone  equals 14pounds, tower = usually they move in a group of giraffe,   ossicones means rudimentary horns,  necking =pushing  the female with horns,calf pool = all female giraffe feeding  any calves irrespective of  original mother