The Lure Of The Commonplace

I watch the men and women in soiled clothes Their hands and feet with cracked nails and toes They work in sun and rain in the open fields How their weather beaten body easily yields To laborious works to eke out a living In the evening after a day’s hard striving They joyfully return to their humble shacks And sit with their family in a mood to relax I don’t find any regret on their face Neither any trace of despair in their eyes Ordinary men with ordinary pleasures Whose world is confined to their domestic enclosures I enjoy rambling into the city’s far outskirts Watching ordinary people in commonplace pursuits Imbibing much from the life of the peasantry Whom none can beat in life’s lessons, elementary How they interact devoid of all cold formalities And remain free from all artificialities I inhale the fragrance of the wayside blooms Watch kingfishers and parakeets in colorful plumes My eyes never miss Nature’s minute caprices And I rejoice in homebound birds’ sonatas I watch the daylight paving way for the night And the sun willfully surrendering his might I listen to the invisible choir, singing in the dark That breaks the sacred silence of the dusk How these common scenes fill me with delight Nevertheless making me sorry for the unhappy plight Of those unable to enjoy any ordinary scene And turn their backs to pleasurable sights umpteen Blessed are those who have eyes to see and feel And remain happy being close to Nature’s heel Whose ears are attuned to the beats of the Average And who need no other intoxicating beverage Those who get a kick out of the commonplace And seek for everyday banal sensations to embrace