Here and There
“Here: this place or point
There: that place or point”
— Cambridge Dictionary
It was a pleasing tender night, the Park was slenderly occupied.
Here a girl skipping in the lawns, and there a boy climbing the tree.
I overheard a young couple in a pleasant quarrel:
“Let us go there near the Rosy Bush”, says She
“No, let us stay here, it is breezy and lovely”, says He.
Leaving the couple to decide ‘here’ or ‘there’
I sauntered here and there
Thinking of things, this and that.
Here is a child smiling and sharing a stale bread
There a woman sneering and wasting a Five star dish.
After a day’s hard work a laborer blissfully sleeps here on the Roadside
There tossing in the bed, the billionaire sleepless in his Penthouse.
Here is a girl standing in hot sun for rice a rupee a kilo
There is a woman seated in her AC car to buy a 1000 rupees ticket for a Mega show.
Here is a man guilty of bad things he did
There is a woman guilty of all the good she didn’t do.
I recalled the prophetic words of William Blake,
Here and there “some are born to sweet delight
And some are born to endless night”.
They say God is here, there and everywhere
An atheist retorts: ‘He is neither here nor there or anywhere”
When you go from here to there
There becomes here and here becomes there.
That in a way, is Relativity of space.
And if you comprehend it, you will see the unity of all!
It started drizzling and I found that
I am neither here nor there, far from any shelter.
When I reached home somewhat late and completely wet
The wife asked (as wives always do)
“It is too late, where were you?”
“Oh, Here and there!”
“It is our Wedding Day, you forgot!
I have made Masala Dosa and Badam Halva, your favorites”
I pulled her nearer and kissed here and there
She untangled herself from me after a while,
“Come let us eat, I am hungry”
“Here is your Masala Dosa and there the Badam Halva!”
She took a piece from here and placed it tenderly in my mouth,
I took another from there and placed it in her mouth.
I said to myself: Some things don’t change, be it here or there!”