Written after a visit to the Central Board of Revenue, Islamabad.





He bore it before my misted eyes


And laying it down, he sighed,


“It did not stand an earthly chance,


though Heaven knows it tried”.





I turned the limp form over,


Saw lacerations undried.


Remorse o’erflowed my aching heart;


“Democracy’s done,” I cried.





“Mourn not, O grieved citizen,”


the PA gently replied,


“Neglect was the mortis causa;


your file need not have died”.





“Bureaucracy has its rituals;


Their observance 'not be denied.


A note should have been prepared


and with your filed supplied”.





I hung my head, cursed myself


for not having complied,


and fumbling in my pocket


slipped a note from the notes inside.


[Published in THE HERALD, July 1970.]