MY CELLPHONE

I remember the days, not so long ago

My phone wouldn’t stop ringing

And the beeping texts sent my head spinning

I wouldn’t check it for hours

Wanted to be where I was; “now and here”

Not where they were, too far away from there.

Flooded by questions and pointless idle talk

How’s it going, where you at or when are you free?

No time for all that crap, was too busy being me

More often than not, I wouldn’t bother with replies

Thought I’d tell them all when I get where they were

They’d understand, if they knew how lovely it was here.

Too many people, too many places to be at

Always out in the town, never ever at home

Grumbling in my head “why can’t they leave me alone”?

Wanted to get away and be just with him.

Every now and then I’d switch of my tracker

Lest I be bothered by some space-time attacker!

I switched it on this morning: self-directed anger,

Must have missed a dozen calls, some extremely important

And I wait for the beeps of missed calls, frustratingly patient.

Waiting and waiting as I rub the sleep off my eyes.

No missed calls or messages, hardly makes sense

Pull back my blanket and contemplate in the eerie silence.

And all day I stare at my phone now, waiting for it to ring

Somebody who is thinking of me or just wants to say hey

But it remains mute and motionless, and so goes another day.

Taking it out of my bag, every few hours; checking if it’s on

Running towards it with concealed urgency whenever I hear a beep

But it’s only the phone company, or some product-selling creep.

I wonder if I did this to myself or is it just a normal phase

I miss when my phone was a nuisance, a leash around my neck

But now it’s my albatross, reminder of my loneliness that I constantly check.

I shunned you then, you shun me now; I guess that’s just how life goes

And now I just sit with my lousy phone; staring at the screen that’s bare

Hoping that it would suddenly resurrect; and I’d know that you still care.