Soliloquy

He’s been bed-ridden for a week,
But he doesn’t show his pain,
Hiding doesn’t come easy,

The man in the red suit has never had it harder,
His kids down at the North Pole Post Office
Have often told him to go easy but,

The chest pains he’s had do not go away quickly
And as doctors rarely visit the North Pole,
He has to do with the chicken soup

That Mrs Claus prepares so painstakingly.
After the blood test he again feels faint,
The cholesterol’s come up once again.

And one day when he was walking the reindeer,
His chest finally gives way, it’s had enough,
He sees his beloved world turn to gray.

Mrs Claus goes hysterical, the elves scream,
And Rudolph tries pulling his master up
The hill to North Pole Dispensary,

On the sleigh that has held him all this time for so long,
On arrival the medics say, “What took you so long?”
As Santa’s heart finally says, “So long.”

All this time, in an apartment in Hyderabad,
I’m ten and I am telling my dad that
Kids in school say Santa’s not real.

He quickly takes a handkerchief out of his top pocket,
Trying to wipe away an imaginary tear from his eye,
An attempt in vain to stop his throat from choking.

Before he says nothing and goes quiet again.