K. Satchidanandan
Angels
Angels do not live on moonlight.
They know nothing about relativity.
They make light of the law of gravity.
Since they have wings in place of hands
They cannot properly handle even a cup of tea,
count change or set a blown fuse,
not to speak of sending an SMS.
Angels hate to take part in funeral rites.
All that stuff about their standing guard
to the sick and singing lullabies for
those sleeping on the streets
is nothing but bluff.
Their relationship with God is in jeopardy.
In fact they were banished from Heaven
for their lethargy and indulgence.
Names like Gabriel and Raphael
they picked up after they were
abandoned on earth.
They are suffering from diabetes and B.P.
as they had long been on
an excess of manna.
Human drugs have failed on them.
Veterinary doctors think
their wings are fake.
But they are real as they
get entangled in microwave towers:
it is their wail that
we just heard on our mobiles.
Angels envy men:
thought is anathema to them.
They survive only as they are gay.
Once I saw a wingless angel
riding the back of a local train.
Its eyes were no more than sockets
and the cheeks had no cheeks in them.
Seeing it try hard to sing aawaaraa hoom *
with its sooty lips
to the accompaniment
of the train’s whistle,
I wept.
Page(s) 70-71
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