Have No Time

 

There is joy scattered all around,

yet to pause and smile - we have no time.

In this restless, borrowed existence,

to simply be ourselves - we have no time.

We remember a mother’s lullaby,

but to call her today - we have no time.

We have killed all our relationships, 

yet even to bury them - we have no time.

Our calendars filled with appointments, 

Yet to meet friends - we have no time

What to speak of strangers, 

When even for our own kin - we have no time.

In this endless rat race for money, 

even to get tired - we have no time.

How do we appreciate others’ feelings, 

When to chase our dreams - we have no time.

We binge-watch other lives on screen

but to live our own - we have no time

We crave quick likes on blog posts we make,

but to greet a friend – we have no time.

The weary eyes droop with exhaustion, 

But even to sleep - we have no time.

The heart filled with unspoken sorrow, 

but even to cry - we have no time.

Oh! Life, whisper, what’s our fate.

The past has gone, the future beckons.

We are dying each passing minute, 

and yet to truly live - 

we have no time.

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These verses came as an explosive outcome of a social-media burnout and a wonderful poem read in the same social media — Waqt Nahi. This was a couple of years ago. That viral Hindi poem begins with the lines ‘हर खुशी है लोगों के दामन में, पर एक हँसी के लिए वक़्त नहीं…’. I first saw it floating around in WhatsApp groups and found it again on an old Hindi-poem blog from 2012. The thoughts have stayed with me. My poem is not a translation, just my own take, in my own words in English. The original author remains unknown, but I want to acknowledge their lines that set me thinking.