The Harmonium Player

He sat on the side-lanes every day, playing,
On something that closely resembled my briefcase,
With its lid open. Melodies flowed out of it,
Like bees from a bee hive and ants out of their hills,

His hands played music, but I felt otherwise,
I could feel them touching my heart, caressing it gently,
It made me forget the miseries of my own life,
My shrivelled heart rose and danced with joy.

A harmonium, I think it was called. A set of black and white keys.
To me, it resembled life itself. Life was a mixture too,
Of days good and bad. Of moments light and dark.
That turned the wheel of Time over and over again...

Over and over again, we move, from trial to trial,
Some we win, some we don’t. Yet we fight ‘em all.
Just as this man sat on the pavement everyday
Fighting with life and her twin sister hunger.

He opened his box of music every day, with hope,
To fill his plate with coins, to feed the stomachs at home.
Those that waited and expected his return, with food
Or something that would scare away the witch called hunger.

So do all of us. We wake up every day with hope,
That today goes better than yesterday, and helps us,
Finish tasks left undone and claim what we believe is ours.
And yet, we go to sleep every night, as restless as we woke up.

He had finished playing a song, and the next one began.
The man waited, not for coins or accolades, not even for rest,
Maybe he had more in him to learn from, not just music,
For I had learnt from him the best lesson of my life.

I had learnt from him, to never give up fighting,
No matter how much against me the odds were.
I also learnt to never look into my plate
Before I went ahead and finished a good day’s work

This man had become my preceptor,
Yes, the simple, poor, harmonium player,
Who played on the streets, had become my moral Guru,
And I, the headstrong individual, became a humble disciple.

The lesson I learnt from him, has stayed with me,
And I had tried my best to live by it, as a good student,
I might have fallen off the road, may be more than once,
But I have always stuck to the teachings of a humble harmonium player.