My greatest tragedies do not occur in isolation
But in the innermost being of my thoughts
Laced with surreal discomfort
Cradled in my own notion of the self

Never in the absolute, never alone
Gauging, measuring, weighing
Against my own illusion of the standard
Delusionally deviant from reality

And when one tragedy passes
The next one quickly fills the vacuum
For the illusion would have moulted by then
Into yet another illusion of the self

Thus we live from one tragedy to the next
Praying for heaven some day
Chasing an illusion really, yet again
For that elusive heaven in our Milky Way

Subir Chakraborty
14th Aug 2021