Transcending Time

A poem by Achuthan Panikath

Sun Jul 05 2026

I see him under our massive teak table
Upside down, reading his math like he always did.
Shadowed by the ancestral pillars of our limits,
He scowled at the text to rush it to sense.
I recognize our T-shirt, a statement against trends,
The hairless head that shone once as a choice.
The weight of the world clung fiercely to his brows.
‘Relax, child, there are kinder days still.’

I share with him tales of leaving these lands
Of conquests in science and our glorious wins that lasted seconds.
I detail our rise in the corporate ranks
Youngest by many, trusted by most.
I sing to our travels, our poetic lust
For the lives and the lies we are yet to unknot.
I whisper the ballad of love and quick loss:
A lifetime in six; a death in just five.

He takes it all in, as well as he can,
Which man has the strength to face all he could be?
He asks with a sigh, ‘Will I get a 100 in math?’
From within our embrace, I mouth, ‘No’.

Neither of the young felt the eyes of our third,
He smiled with happiness only our hearts would ever know.