Cancer Cures

 

Dr. Lalit Mohan Sharma

 

Taut smooth cover of arms and hands

Darkens and wrinkles as the skin does

Shrivel when therapy sessions to cure

Cancer impact body in their full measure

 

There’s human medicine at offsetting

A life- destroying disease, the triumph

Comes with cruelty of cost in defacing

The delicate beauty of the human flesh.

 

Growing loss of hair and easy breath

A nagging absence of appetite and agility,

Count among symptoms of the healing

Foul disease dares inflict on human body

 

Reserves of resilience honour men

Out to face the life denied to them;

Healing deserved by the human spirit

Hones human skills to survive dying

 

 

Ah, The Virtual

 

I must always respect and admire

Your own sense of mind and attire

Whether we meet in a world actual

Or virtual in this age of accessibility.

 

Desire without words

Words without sound

Sound without sense

The essence misses

Cruel to even imagine

Nothing yet to survive

But the holy promises

 

The desire to be whole

Seems now a holy wish

Erect stands the physic

The mystic ache pains

And pines for freedom

 

Connect odd with even

Relieve gain from loss

Move ahead of sound

Its release from words

To forget the meaning

One regrets delusions

 

How do I celebrate this virtual flash

The promise of a willing suspension

Of the threatened end of everything

 

 

Dr. Lalit Mohan Sharma, born in 1952, is the author of a dozen books of English poetry, including a notable translation of Urdu poems. He taught at government colleges and retired as a Principal in 2010. His most recent work, Inclusive Voids, was published earlier this year.

Sharma’s contributions to contemporary thought have earned him a place in 21st Century Critical Thought: A Dialogue with Lost Modern Voices, Vol. 1 (2020), and A Handbook of Contemporary Ethics (2024).