gully boy

talk to a person of any profession
and they will tell you how their work
is the most important work in the world
doctors, teachers, farmers
economists, ecologists, labourers
cleaners, scientists, politicians
they will all see their work
as central and inevitable to the world

and i, the folklorist, am no different
i see the utility of everything else
but i also see that we are all unhappy
because we are
not able to connect with each other
because we are
no longer able to express
what is innermost in our hearts

we no longer create, we parrot what
capitalistic entertainment machines show us
and we no longer know what we feel
apart from the limited range they prescribe
but that is not everything
that doesn't address all that you feel

you only need to look around
dig a little deeper
to understand how deep the songs live
or used to live, in people's soul
to understand that that is how they managed to live
to survive this word of endless sorrow
or dukkha as buddha would say

we might think that we,
the 21st century 9 to 5 office goers generation
are the only ones bound to this routine
hassled and harried too boredom
to ennui, to death of spirit
but no, life as always been harsh
the life that humanity has always known
is one of constant toil
the farmer must operate by the seasons
and gets no rest,
and the shepherd gets no weekend,
because the cows need to be fed every day

but they did manage to survive
because they spoke about it
they commiserated with each other,
and we who have it not
think we are the first  generation
to go through this much dukkha

and to get back to (how I think)
what I do is central to the world
I do think, with a very straight face
that only intense writing and creating
of what really matters to you
sharing what really moves you
is the only thing that could really save humanity
from the impending apocalypse of ennui