
Free Verse: Sumana Roy
1 min read . Updated: 02 May 2015, 12:44 AM ISTA short poem by Sumana Roy
Adult
You become an adult when you discover—
that shoes also cast shadows though we might stamp on them;
that a calling bell is not meant to alert but to prevent entries;
that even water can be impatient and sunlight a thing of tenancy;
that you actually slap yourself and not the mosquito.
You become an adult when you discover—
that you have become the subject of gossip;
that old love is centrifugal, new love centripetal;
that the human mind is a piece of furniture, and that dust settles on both;
that there is nothing else that is more private than sleep;
and not that those we love will die, but that they must die.
But you actually become an adult when you first commit adultery.
Sumana Roy is a Siliguri-based poet and essayist.
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