The sad visitor

Oh sadness, you come into my heart like an unexpected visitor.
How benevolent you are! 
You keep on giving yourself, unasked and unbidden. 
I say "Enough" but you say "Just a little more!"

You always steal the show, and despite my other friends' presence, 
somehow, you manage to dominate everybody.
Hope is the first to leave the room.
Joy absolves himself from saying anything at all.
Peace, she sits beside you and befriends you.
Love forgets herself in her long-lost memories.
Enthusiasm, nods off into a deep stupor. 
You know how to beguile all of them. 
You always steal the show.

I cannot escape your presence.
Although I try, you hold all the keys.
You hold all the reasons to give me the key.
Can their be a greater grip on a man's soul?
I beseech you. I plead you to leave.
Its late. And I need to go to bed. My friends need to go.
But you insist on accompanying me to my bed, 
where you toss and turn me and keep me awake.

In the wee hours of the morn'
as the sun's first rays kiss the Banyan tree in my yard,
as the Koel, calls out shrilly across the verdant valley,
as the milkman's footsteps are heard in my driveway,
you wake me up from the wakeful sleep,
and brew me that strong coffee. 
Each sip is a reminder of that dark roast,
that you brought into the depths of my soul. 

And as I take my ablutions,
you seem to wedge yourself in every drop,
piercing my skin or perhaps something deeper within.
And in my morning prayers,
you chant these Mantras and do the Poojas,
giving it a strangely different meaning - 
a strangely different feeling. 

Helplessness sets in. 
You are the companion I never wanted. 
A companion I never thought I would have.
And then, there, I broke down and sobbed. 
Woefully,  I supplicate myself to my creator 
and said, 
"Let thy will be done. 
If thou choosest to have him as mine, 
so be it!"

I then turned to face this dark friend,
and asked, "Who are you? Where did you come from?"
Silence.
"How goes you? How can I help you?"
I see you squirming in my chest,
making somersaults on my heart strings. 
"What is your nature?
Why so elusive?"

You seem to be uncomfortable with my hospitality,
and just as I started to get to know you,
you decide to take my leave.
You leave my house without even saying goodbye. 
And just as I see your cloak, whiff past the gate, 
hope, peace, joy and enthusiasm stirr from their deep rest.
"Is it morning already?" they ask.
"Where is our sadness friend?"
I smile and say, 
"He left just as I started knowing him better"
"Ah" said joy
 "Strange fellow he is,
never likes the attention.
Embrace him and make him your buddy,
and he immediately says goodbye"

Sometimes, in life, we can overcome the undesirable, 
by making friends with them.
It is as simple as that.
This sadness guy - he still comes, every now and then.
I make sure I am waiting by the front door.
And when I eagerly invite him inside,
sometimes he peeks in, shuffles around 
and almost never stays as long as he intends to.
Strange, yet true.