The Unseen Agent

The unseen agent moves around

eats away my life in steady bites

I eat my hunger to keep him alive,

to make me move from dawn to dusk

to feed him what he loves to eat.

I search for him everywhere

in the kitchen, bedroom, toilet,

in the bathtub and TV programmes

he moves like a crooked shadow

beyond my grasp, beyond my pain

I give up and turn again

to  routines fixed by others.

Yes, he comes like an obedient student

I receive him with a smile
like a waylost soldier
tired, sick and unarmed:
he watches me when I sleep

but slides away when I rise

to bask in the crimson sun.

Sabita Sahu