Digital Beings
- S.A. Hamid
- 15 hours ago
- 1 min read
In this digital era
the digitalized emotions
change with the hands
running on the keyboard.
Emojis, often in a row, that defy
the science of hermeneutics
Abbreviated messages
that are as short
as the short-lived feelings
they intend to convey.
The pictures on the screen
upload desire, which
the inbox messages multiply
Sometimes she may bare her soul
along with her body
Who can dispute Donne
that ‘pure lovers’ souls descend
to the senses else ‘a great prince in prison lies’?
The neighbor next door
keeps himself updated about me
from my posts on Facebook
and dismisses my presence on the street
with the mandatory salutation
later’ liking’ my post in acknowledgement.
But when darkness descends on the mind
when likes, reels, shares don’t matter anymore
when existential crisis, loneliness
saps the body, knocks at the soul,
the digital beings recall
some quote of Kafka
or Camus’ essay about Sisyphus
with the boulder on his back
climbing the mountain eternally.
But these unbearable thoughts are brushed aside
because the escape route lies
beside them on the bed
whose one click makes them
digital again.
S. A. Hamid (retired Professor of English, Kumaun University Campus, Almora, Uttarakhand)
has published five books of poems, the latest being The Alchemy of Ageing (New Delhi:
Authorspress, 2021). He is currently trying his hand at writing short stories. He can be reached
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