Chasing Illusions





Epitaph & Chasing Illusions | Poems by Shashikant Dudhgaonkar




Epitaph & Chasing Illusions



Epitaph

An epitaph,
an obituary
that’s what we reach
in the end.

But what’s the end?
What’s the journey?
We never come to know
not when we are dead,
certainly not before.

Still, we live,
we dance with rehearsed steps,
learned, internalised
by choice
or by force.

But is the force
truly forceful,
or devious enough
to fool us
into willing consent?

What, then,
is not worth living
nor worth dying for?
©️ Shashikant Dudhgaonkar

Chasing Illusions

An epitaph,
an obituary
that’s what we reach
in the end.

But what’s the end?
What’s the journey?
We never come to know
not when we are dead,
certainly not before.

Still, we live,
we dance with rehearsed steps,
that we have learned
and deeply ingrained
by choice or subtly forced,
fooling us into consent
to scheme and plot,
sidestep and ignore,
think and rethink,
repeat and regurgitate
and in the end,
die in defence.

Is it worth living
this choreographed life
should one step out of line 
break through the comforting crowd
to glimpse what’s hiding in plain sight
a vortex of questions
will then rise 
what’s safe, what’s staid
what’s real and what’s charade
being awakened is lonely 
it’s a dangerous place
though it can swiftly return you 
to your original state  
pristine uncorrupted 
dancing to the rhythm of life
bohemian to you
quixotic to the rest
©️ Shashikant Dudhgaonkar

Epitaph

An epitaph,
an obituary
that’s what we reach
in the end.

But what’s the end?
What’s the journey?
We never come to know
not when we are dead,
certainly not before.

Still, we live,
we dance with rehearsed steps,
learned, internalised
by choice
or by force.

But is the force
truly forceful,
or devious enough
to fool us
into willing consent?

What, then,
is not worth living
nor worth dying for?
©️ Shashikant Dudhgaonkar

Chasing Illusions

An epitaph,
an obituary
that’s what we reach
in the end.

But what’s the end?
What’s the journey?
We never come to know
not when we are dead,
certainly not before.

Still, we live,
we dance with rehearsed steps,
that we have learned
and deeply ingrained
by choice or subtly forced,
fooling us into consent
to scheme and plot,
sidestep and ignore,
think and rethink,
repeat and regurgitate
and in the end,
die in defence.

Is it worth living
this choreographed life
should one step out of line 
break through the comforting crowd
to glimpse what’s hiding in plain sight
a vortex of questions
will then rise 
what’s safe, what’s staid
what’s real and what’s charade
being awakened is lonely 
it’s a dangerous place
though it can swiftly return you 
to your original state  
pristine uncorrupted 
dancing to the rhythm of life
bohemian to you
quixotic to the rest
©️ Shashikant Dudhgaonkar


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