Clean

There was dirt and grime on me

...And the more it came off,

the more i kept rubbing it out.

I took a bath,

After about

Three days i reckon.

Standing below the showerhead

Cold

clear water

streaming down my head

My face

My shoulders

My body.

The bar of soap,

so smoothly and effortlessly gliding over the surface

Its skinful exterior

and sinful crevasses

forbidden to touch

(...Even by the mind)

Substance turning to lather whiter than itself

Washing me

Soothing me

Assuring me

It was my ally

in this fight

to keep off the dirt

Ridding me of the invisible filth i was submerged in

Unwanted dirt that so surrounded me,

Completely.

So that I could emerge

Clean

Pristine

Pure

As a dew drop

like a sublime Lotus

Standing

Meditating

amidst

and distinct from

the swamp, in which it chooses to grow.

Standing there

Clean

With the shower turned off

With drops of water finding their way down my body

Convinced of my purity

And impunity

This is exhilarating in a sense

I can almost feel that time around me has stopped

That the world no longer revolves for me

That I stand still; eyes shut

 in the midst of a vaster universe

The centre of my very own galaxy

I can at once hear the drops trickling

And silent rumblings of entire worlds move within me

This...

This moment

Such moments

Are truly exhilarating

They make you feel profound with realization

(I wonder if i’d feel so sagacious

Had i been more regular in my daily ablutions...!)

The moment passes

And i realize there are more important things to do

To rush

(...Mindlessly?)

And almost automatically

I proceed to draw the towel

That rough crude length of cloth

And i scrub

And i stop

And i see

That there was dirt and grime on me

...And the more it came off,

the more i kept rubbing it out.

I couldn’t believe my eyes!

What the bloody hell is this?

Advertisers !

Soap manufacturers!

What sort of dirty game are those bastards playing with me?

All you sons of bitches who sell me yer products and your worthless souls

Lead me to the promised land...!?!

Wasn’t i supposed to be rid of this crud?

Weren’t you supposed to cleanse me the burden of 

dead skin

dead cells

deadwood

dead memories

dead times

dead friends

dead happiness

dead grief

dead shrieks

dead cries

dead efforts

dead thoughts

dead sensations

dead feelings

dead dreams

dead hope

dead youth

Weren’t you supposed to rid me of a dead life??!

But there was so much dirt and grime on me

...And the more it came off,

the more i kept rubbing it out.

And i kept on rubbing

Vigorously

Vociferously

Vicariously

Vilifying

Ferociously

It hurt

And the more it did

The further i stepped up my efforts

I could see the dead matter heaped upon the water

right at my feet

That water made me feel so alive one moment

And now it was dead

It lay still

Coated with the muck that spewed out of my body

Like i was some modern day factory

Brazenly polluting the surrounding environs

Mindless of the havoc i wreak

In my profiteering pursuit of narrow goals

It seemed like an eternity

Before i stopped

Exhausted and breathless

I was tired

Of scrubbing

Of cursing

Of running

I felt

So naked

So vulnerable

So close to tears

And i wept

Wept for the all the wasted efforts

Wasted moments

And the flow of tears

Was what washed my body

My being

My soul

Clean.