The Old Man and his Brew

The old man sat silently

Brooding over the brew

Of coffee that had gone

Stale in the slumber

Of time that kept on ticking,

Passing by always anyways,

Without reservation or doubt...

The days gone by

Has taught the man

What no-one could,

Without confusion or cloud

Now rests his realisation aloud;

And he never thought, he would sit

At the same place his father and forefathers did...

As he recounted his days old,

Seeing life off-the-stage, cold,

That which he never realized before,

Not until he was out of the drama-set.

Sulking made his mind wander

Into the far away lands of time,

And on his face did his smile chime...

When expectations didn't 

Raise their ugly heads,

And irritations just didn't 

Show up, Not because

It is right or it should be,

But just happened like that -

That day was lovely...

Because it was love real -

Not of the mind,

But of something that

Throbbed with life

In the innards of this

Mould of flesh and blood -

Some magic that had sparked!

But then returned the foggy mist,

His forehead wrinkled with guilt,

And his face darkened wth grief, 

Whole bodily skin striken with shame -

That when the sunflower had returned,

For one more tete-a-tete, one more turn,

He let his rage run, he let her burn!

Destiny for destiny's sake,

Hoping against hope's fake,

But what's not to be, can never be,

How much ever one longs to see,

The lingering scent of failure,

And the lamenting torture of guilt,

Has stuck him in perpetual limbo...

The same lines ran and ran

Again and again in his head,

Almost like his daily bread,

Where days to his redemption tread...

"Don't let go an opportunity!

Don't be impatient in love!

Don't stop giving a second chance!"

-- Bhaskar Ghosh

Tue, 24th Feb, 2026

10:15 am, Kolkata

(Image generated by ChatGPT)