Poetry: Polaris..

POLARIS Atlas did not shrug: he bore the burden of his Mastery, that silvery gift of Proteus, to Impersonate at the sound of a clapper, at The twist of a script, in the burning gaze of Aone-eyed Argus, the thousand faces of a Bahrupiya - begetter of a thousand emotions, Hero of hope, heroic slayer of a hundred foes

POLARIS

Atlas did not shrug: he bore the burden of his

Mastery, that silvery gift of Proteus, to

Impersonate at the sound of a clapper, at

The twist of a script, in the burning gaze of

Aone-eyed Argus, the thousand faces of a

Bahrupiya - begetter of a thousand emotions,

Hero of hope, heroic slayer of a hundred foes.

Before there was any artifice, there was the

Art: the father’s part: the box-office mobs

Could never know that the outsized poetry

Had had an early start; there was the steel

Culled of first failure, and of a mother’s frontier

Heart: but the fire was sui generis, was his

Apriori, fanned by the bellows of that baritone.

Now, 80: replete, empty: everyone’s. Still alone.

– Bashibazouk

Penned on Amitabh Bachchan’s 80th birthday, October 11, 2022.

From HT Brunch, October 15, 2022

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