This Body of Mine
This body of mine!
I look at the marvel, touch it-
Smooth-limbed, graded with precise division of labor,
Vital organs carefully tucked under skin.
A picture-perfect thing.
Almost
My heart is working fine,
Tapping out a pulsating rhythm,
Making atria and ventricles work in tandem.
There is no question of missing a beat
Nor of surrendering to any adrenaline heat.
My kidneys have known no aberration.
Working assiduously round the clock
Like my two faithfuls,
They purge blood, stave off infectants
Keep the system squeaky clean.
My brain so far has betrayed no weakness.
A hive of neurons and synapses,
Fortified by the cognitive power,
Buttressed by an impregnable skull,
Brain is a sweet concatenation
Of fine-tuned commands,
It has never failed to respond
To any rational demand.
But this circadian clock won't go on ticking,
Once wound up, the count-down begins.
Nothing but a prosodic scheme.
One insertion of a false syllable is enough-
It fatally dislodges the rhyme,
Deals mortal blow to the intended theme.
Yasif Ahmad Faysal teaches English at the University of Barisal.
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