My daily newspaper
hasn't been dropped today,
It will surely be tossed tomorrow.
There's nothing special about it;
but possibly
a sorrow might be
hidden in it.

The paper boy Satyanarayana,
who startled us from our sleep
every morning,
hurling the newspaper,
may not be seen,
but the paper continues
to appear everyday.

If he was late in giving
the paper any day,
how patiently he used
to hear the expletives
of our impatience,
but when we delayed paying
the newspaper bill,
he never complained,
his face showed
not anger, but joy.

He knew which paper
we read on a particular day,
on Sundays
how many different newspapers
we would need -
he knew more than we did.

But he departed because
he didn't know
what drugs his body needed.
No newspaper carried
the obituary notice
of the paperboy Satyanarayana
who carried papers
all his life.

When I touch the paper
every morning,
his memory
melts my heart. 

December 24, 2006

Editor's Choice February 3, 2008
Other Poems of Editor's Choice

The Week of December 24, 2006       
A Night So Bright by Anisha Das    
Attitudes by Maitrayee Patel 
Beyond Barriers by Shernaz Wadia 
Conjoined by Maddie Williams 
Depression by Bhakta Raj Giri  
Evening Stroll by RD Ashby 
Lady Kingfisher Brown by Shelly Jyoti
Lost in your Addiction by Stephen Stathis 
My Breasts by Annu Chopra   
My Creator by Kumud Biswas  
My Morning Walk by Shelly Jyoti   
On My Last Breath by Anisha Das 
Passing By by Walter Durk
Satyanarayana - The Paper Boy by Mangari Rajender (Zimbo)
Son of Man by Kumud Biswas 
Strings of Love by Anisha Das 
Terrorists by Shernaz Wadia  
The Apparatus by Ratish Pandya 
The Flying Swans by Kumud Biswas 
The One and Only Kishore Kumar by Aparna Chatterjee 
The Soul by Shelly Jyoti 
Voyage to Delhi by Shelly Jyoti 
 

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