Rhymes / Social

Choices


The suitcase was neatly packed with a week’s worth of supplies,

shirts, socks, underwear, ties and pocket squares all rolled up neat and tight,

to fight the wrinkle and outlast the transcontinental flight;

Kissed the kids and gave the wife a peck,

He jumped into the back of a cab ready to hit the deck;

He cut through the long lines with his loyalty statuses and that charming smile,

The gleaming plane reached cruising altitude and turned to its philandering ways flirting with those smitten clouds falling over each other in a crooked file;

Touchdown, taxi, train and a traipse,

He reaches his stratospheric hotel suite to instantly collapse;

The bespoke suit is sharp and the shirt underneath is crisp,

the wingtips exude a confidence that can only belong to the man who has the world in his grips;

He sashays in into the cafe to grab his breakfast of a steaming cap (with an extra shot) and a bowl of Muesli,

Marches out with a sense of purpose straight onto the teeming avenue and then blithely turns into Fintech alley;

He struts about with his chest leading the way,

and every time he waltzes into a client office his confidence and charisma hold sway;

He speaks the lingo and latches on to potential revenue opportunity like an opportunistic Crane,

The hours are long and the challenges are stiff but he knows there is big payoff beyond the pain;

The twelve hours fly by in a flash and he is beat but smiles when he realizes that its time for his daily treat,

the kids are ecstatic to hear from Dad and fight each other to wrest the phone away for that short lived meet;

They try to cram in all the wondrous things that happened during the day but it always ends with the lament that ‘DaDa’ wasn’t around to share their joy,

It lacerates his soul to hear the pain and disappointment in their voices and he is left to reflect on his choices;

There is no departure from the script the next morn,

The laser sharp focus in back and the rat race in on;

……………..Tape is on an auto loop…………………

One of these days though he shall break free,

to hold up the little bottoms as they climb a tree;

be at the game and cheer them on from the bleachers,

or be in attendance at the PTA to meet the teachers;

be at their bedside and tuck them in while they take their time to ask a million questions,

and wake up at home to find the little ones standing on his chest with wide grins;

We always have choices available to us that we shy away from under one pretext or the other,

but then there comes a moment when one must decide as life doesn’t have any retakes to offer!