The Fallen Rockstar
At the dusk of a career,
in the 57th year.
I booked 50 shows for the fares.
The fans in the people,
Swarming on like bees.
Came along to see me once more.
At the 49th concert,
Half the stadium got filled.
On 48th I lost my voice in a few tracks.
Rallied on advising myself not to drink much,
Moved on with a pat on my back.
Coz it was the only thing in which I could never lack.
The 47th was in a college’s fest,
Got booed away off the stage.
At 46th I just stayed back, and let them play the tapes.
The 45th concert was for an audience of my age,
Who bore me well in the church.
They said I still had a sweet voice,
The money paid there was in the form of a free lunch.
For the 44th show, I got a
16 year old kid to perform.
While I just opened for him with a 5 minute song.
That one was quite a hit with the only complaint,
That my part was a tad too long.
For the 43rd I revisited some memories,
and jotted down a new song.
Got my band together,
Over a dinner under the nice weather,
We planned the 43rd to mark our reunion.
And named that act as the “Return of the Companions”.
We now had mellowed acts and voices,
But the same purity in the spirits
that we lost some 15 years ago.
We laughed at our hits and goof-ups,
And the supposedly ‘safe’ crack that we had.
And how our lead guitarist died when during one of our ‘volcano’ acts his body went up in the smoke.
So, the day finally came,
We all dressed exactly the same.
With the hearts of a teenager,
Shouting our own names.
We charged the stage.
The main producer of the 50 shows, with all doubts my biggest fan,
Came up to me and said.
Asked me to look at the stadium, and count all the empty seats,
Multiply that sum with 5000, and sir that’s what you owe me.
All the remaining shows got cancelled,
In my bed now I lay sad.
Anyway 50 shows were always too much for my age.
Kinda major pain in the arse.
16th june 2014
NIPUNDART 